exorcist, Demorans, one of the most declared of Grandier's enemies; and from this moment all the world saw clearly that the ruin of the man was a thing resolved upon. He was now thrown into a prison at Loudun, with only such necessaries as nature demanded. From this mansion of misery he wrote a Christian-like letter to his mother, betraying no symptoms of mental perturbation or sorrow, requesting her to send him a bed and a Bible, and to be comforted. No one was permitted to have the smallest concern with the prisoner, but either his bitter enemies, or their immediate dependents; and the surgeons and apothecaries, whose reports were to certify the state of the convent, were all chosen from among the most ignorant and prejudiced of the profession.

"It was in vain that Daniel Roger, the physician of the town, and a man of considerable merit, endeavoured to resist such a confederacy of ignorance: it was in vain that the devoted Grandier exclaimed against such an open injustice! M. de Laubardemont had now thrown off all regard to appearances, and hardly affected a colour of equity in any of his proceedings. It was proposed to this cruel agent, by those who yet hoped that the truth could interest him, to adopt a contrivance of St. Athanasius, who, when accused at the council of Tyre of violating the innocence of a maid whom he had never seen, and by whom he was entirely unknown, put on a look of unconsciousness, and answered his accuser not a word. Timotheus, however, one of his friends, who had previously concerted this measure with him, took the accusation to himself, and turning to the woman, What,' cried he, 'have you the audacity to say that I am your seducer?' The same,' cried

she, pointing to him with her finger, and adducing the circumstances of time and place. The council burst into a peal of laughter, and the maid was covered with confusion at the discovery of her mistake. As it was well known that the nuns for the most part were in the same ignorance of his person, the friends of Grandier conceived that the same innocent stratagem might expose the falsehood of his accusers; but a discovery of this nature suited not the views of M. de Laubardemont.

"Two fresh exorcists were now appointed by the bishop of Poitiers: one of whom was afterwards among the judges of Grandier; the other was father Lactance, a bigot of the first order, and one who had adopted in all its virulence the hate of the cruel fraternity. The exorcisms were now recommenced with all their fury; and the cabal, covered with a protection which set them above fear, gave vent to their malice in such shocking absurdities as staggered the credulity of the blindest of their votaries. The superior had affirmed, that on the body of Grandier there were five marks of the Devil, and that in these places he had no sensibility to pain. He was accordingly visited in the prison by the surgeon and a great number of curious people. Mamouri, which was the surgeon's name, brought with him a probe, to put the assertion of the superior to the proof. This probe, however, had a blunt and a sharp end, so that he could make him appear alive or dead to pain, as it suited his purpose. At the end of the operation, however, the body of Grandier, which was stripped naked for the purpose, was covered with blood. A variety of experiments of this nature were tried upon the unhappy ecclesiastic, whose courage increased with their cruelty, and whose erect com

posure under his sufferings drew tears of pity from all but his priestly brethren; but the sovereign authority with which the commissary was invested imposed awe upon the people, and a dreadful silence sealed up their lips.

"In the mean time the vulgar were cajoled by a thousand conjuring tricks, which passed for the agency of the devils. Father Lactance promised them that the demon should take the commissary's cap from his head during the service, and suspend it while they chanted a Miserere. This was done by an easy contrivance, when the glare of the chandeliers favoured the deception. An order was now published, declaring the possession by devils of the nuns of Loudun to be a true representation, and enjoining a general belief, because the king, the cardinal, and the bishop believed it. Such as refused assent were declared to be infidels and heretics.

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"Grandier was now brought for the first time into presence of the nuns who had acted the parts of the possessed; immediately strange transports and convulsions ensued, succeeded by horrible outcries and yellings, and all pretended to put him in mind of the times and places in which he had communi. cated with them. Grandier was no way dismayed by this sudden attack, but answered with a smile of indignation, that he renounced Satan and all his devils, that he gloried in the name of Jesus Christ, and that he disclaimed all knowledge of and intercourse with such miserable impostors.'

"This execrable scene, however, produced considerable effect upon the people, who could not believe it possible for women that had devoted themselves to their God, to be capable of such monstrous iniquity. The nuns would now have torn him to

pieces, if they had not been withheld; they threw, however, their slippers at his head, distorting at the same time their countenances into the most terrible grimaces. About two months before the condemnation of Grandier, a sudden remorse seized upon the sister Clara and the sister Agnes: they publickly confessed the part they had taken in this infamous plot. One of the seculars, La Nogeret, made the same avowal; but the principals of the conspiracy laughed at their declarations, which they insisted were only the artifices of the devils to foster incredulity.

"The judges were now appointed for the trial of Grandier, the issue of which was easily foreseen, when it was observed that the choice fell entirely upon his avowed and inveterate enemies. Such an outrage against all the principles of justice drew together the sound part of the inhabitants of the town: at the ringing of the bell, they assembled in the town-house, and there composed a letter to the king, in which the proceedings of the cabal were spiritedly and justly exposed. This measure, however, proved entirely ineffectual, and contributed only to exasperate the commissary, who, with the other commissioned judges, annulled the act of the assembly, and forbade any persons in future to deliberate on matters which came within the power of the commission.

"Grandier began now to consider his condemnation as the certain consequence of these outrageous proceedings; he neglected, however, no arguments which might tend to open men's eyes to the unexampled perversion of justice and violation of human rights, by which his ruin was to be accomplished. One last solemn appeal he addressed to his judges, full of force and full of dignity, reminding them

'that the Judge of judges would sit in the midst of them, and take account of their motives and decisions on that day in which they would sacrifice an innocent man to the implacable fury of an unrighteous cabal; that, as mortals, but a little time would bring them before that mighty tribunal, where the temporary judgements, which they shall have authorized in this world, will form the grounds on which that last immortal judgement shall be pronounced upon them, which shall extend through endless ages.'

"About this time an occurrence took place which affected all minds with the deepest horror :-as M. de Laubardemont was entering the convent, he was surprised with the figure of a woman in the outer court, with only a linen covering on her body, and her head naked; a torch was in her hand, a cord about her neck, and her eyes were swelled with weeping. On approaching, it was found to be the superior of the convent, the chief actress in these infernal scenes.

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"As soon as she perceived the commissary, she threw herself on her knees, and declared herself the wickedest of God's creatures for her conduct in this iniquitous affair. Immediately after this confession, she attached the cord to a tree in the garden, and would have strangled herself outright, had it not been for the interference of some nuns who were near her. Not even this spectacle could touch the heart of Laubardemont: these recantations were represented as fresh proofs of the friendship that subsisted between Grandier and the demons, who made use of these expedients to save him. To the prejudiced every thing serves as a proof; it feeds upon that which should naturally destroy it. At length, on the 18th of August, 1634, after a multitude