they themselves were not ocular witnesses. Grandier had regarded in profound tranquillity the first proceedings of the conspirators; he had seen them in a light so contemptible, as to feel no apprehension for their consequences. But perceiving that, at length, the comedy grew less laughable, and that serious impressions, to the injury of his character, had already been made by their calumnies, he felt it necessary to represent his situation to the bailli, and to protest against their proceedings. It required but little argument to expose a delusion so gross. Grandier obtained from the magistrate a candid attention to his representations, who entered them in the public register, and gave him a clear recital of the various scenes at which he had been present in the monastery.

"In the mean time the unfortunate ecclesiastic saw his enemies multiply around him, to whom were now added René Memin sieur de Silli, the major of the town, the lieutenant criminel, and all the servants of the king. The bishop of Poitiers had manifested an ill disposition towards him from the commencement of the plot; and, upon being applied to by Grandier, threw him again upon the royal judges. It was in vain that the bailli repeatedly ordered that the nuns should be separated from each other, and examined by unprejudiced persons. The rest of the officers would not assist him; and Mignon refused to comply, on the pretence that such a proceeding would be contrary to the oaths of their order. Such an union of persons in dignified situations, both civil and religious, imposed silence upon all men; and the tremendous oaths with which Barré, the principal exorciser, protested his veracity before the magistrates and judges, overawed little minds, and gained vast eredit to the imposture.

"The transaction had need of all these sanctions to support it; for, emboldened by success, the machinators, in a thousand instances, lost sight of their caution and consistency, and every day ran greater risks of exposure by still hardier experiments upon the public credulity. Their machinery was so clumsily contrived, that perpetual failures in their tricks began at length to open the eyes of all reasonable men-all, except those who made it a merit to be blind in religious concerns, and who, unhappily for the devoted Grandier, composed a very great majority of the people."

N° 72. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28.

Hâc sævit rabie imbelle et inutile vulgus.

Such rage inflam'd an useless coward crew.

JUVENAL.

"REGARDLESS of the interpretations which good sense might have given to their proceedings, and of the infamy they were accumulating upon their names and their order, the enemies of Grandier were pursuing with stedfast malignity their plan of revenge, when they received a blow from an unexpected quarter, which confounded them for a while, and checked the career of their malice. The archbishop of Bourdeaux, metropolitan of that district, paid a visit about this time to his Abbey of St. Jouin, in the neighbourhood of Loudun. As soon as he was acquainted with the affairs of that town, he sent his physician to examine the possessed. All was in a moment as quiet as the grave, and no vestige of possession could any longer be discovered.

"In the mean time Grandier, confiding no more in the gross complexion and self-evident absurdity of the whole contrivance, laid before the archbishop a clear and manly account of the proceeding, with a particular exposition of the motives which urged his enemies to so devilish a conspiracy. The archbishop, touched with the representations of Grandier,

deputed unbiassed persons to examine fairly and dispassionately the circumstances of this extraordinary aflair; and to this end, to separate the afflicted persons, so as effectually to prevent the possibility of collusion. Such was the virtue of this decree, that the whole legion of spirits were instantly put to flight. Barré withdrew himself to Chinon, and all was restored to perfect tranquillity. No reasonable man after this could doubt but that the business shrunk from the test of a fair inquiry; and the name of the bishop of Poitiers fell very low in the public esteem, while all extolled the candour of his metropolitan. This bad success of the conspiracy brought the convent into so great disesteem, that parents withdrew their children from its school, and the nuns became the fable and the jest of the whole neighbourhood. In the midst of these cross accidents, however, Mignon relaxed nothing of his horrid purpose, and his hate was only the more exasperated by disappointment.

"While things were in this train, an event as unexpected as it was decisive, drove the current of adversity with such fatal violence against the unhappy Grandier, that neither patronage, talents, nor the justice of his cause, could avail to protect him. It happened that just about this time there went an order from the council to dismantle all the fortresses throughout the interior part of the kingdom, and M. de Laubardemont was commissioned to destroy that of Loudun. This man was entirely devoted to cardinal Richelieu, the ordinary instrument of his oppressions, and, when any subject was to be sacrificed without the formalities of justice, the most dexterous agent on those sanguinary occasions. An old connection had subsisted between him and the perse

cutors of Grandier; and no sooner did he make his appearance at Loudun, but the cabal recovered their spirits, and rallied round him with an exultation which they took but little pains to conceal.

"Some time before these events, a woman, named La Hamon, belonging to the town of Loudun, had accidentally recommended herself to the notice of the queen, in whose service she now was employed. As she had manifested abilities much above the common rate, and no despicable vein of wit and irony, a suspicion fell upon her, supported by other circumstances, of having written a most unmerciful satire upon the cardinal, entitled La belle Cordonnière. In this piece were contained reflections the most galling upon his birth, his person, and his character, but more particularly a ludicrous account of his eminence's passion for a female cobbler. The ruling propensity of Richelieu's heart was that of revenge; and the smart that followed from this lampoon excited such a storm of this passion in his mind as the world saw plainly was not to be appeased without some victim or other.

"As Grandier was well acquainted with La Hamon, who had been one of his parishioners, it occurred to the conspirators that they could not by any contrivance more effectually promote their object, than by attributing to this unfortunate man a correspondence with the supposed authoress, and a particular concern in this perilous satire. Other schemes were also adopted for exasperating the cardinal against the unhappy ecclesiastic, and things were in this posture when M. de Laubardemont returned to Paris. He there made a report of the condition of the nuns, whom he represented to be really possessed with devils, after having given them, as he