The Palace and Park by Phillips, Forbes, Latham, Owen, Scharf, and Shenton

[Born at St. Germain, 1550. Died there, 1574. Aged 24.] The son of Henry II. and Catherine de Medici. He was brought up under the tutelage of his mother; and at an early age, gave promise of a good career, exhibiting a taste for literature, princely courage, and a love of glory. But under the influence of his pernicious mother, he became profligate and cruel. His unenviable reign is notorious for the horrible Massacre of St. Bartholomew, when thousands of Protestants were deliberately murdered. Remorse for this tremendous crime followed Charles IX. to his grave, into which he was prematurely cast by diseases, the result of his debaucheries. [From a marble in the Louvre, attributed to Germain Pilon. It represents the king in his youth. The pedestal is inscribed, Carolus IX. 1568.]