witnesses who had almost seen, because they came
with the determination to see." There was,
however, one class of men whose testimony,
when it was invoked, was unanimous in
declaring that nothing miraculous in any way,
either as regarded the convulsions or the cures,
had taken place. And this class was the medical
faculty. The formal declaration to this effect,
signed by a great number of names, including
all the leading physicians in Paris, is given at
length in Picart's History of Religious
Ceremonies. But, this does not appear to have in the
least daunted the great bulk of the Jansenist
party. Some few, indeed, of the more
enlightened men among them expressed their
conviction that the whole thing was a delusion.
But the party in general strove vehemently to
use the facts and the excitement produced by
them as a means of re-acquiring the credit they
had been recently losing, and as a weapon against
their adversaries. Deacon Paris had been a
notoriously violent "appelant," or opposer of
the "Unigenitus " bull, which inflicted so fatal
a blow on Jansenism. The miracles done at his
tomb, therefore, were Heaven's plain declaration
of its disapproval of the bull, and its adherence
to the Jansenist theology and party. The press
teemed with writings on either side, abounding
in abuse, threats of the Divine displeasure and
vengeance, and theological argument of the
usual calibre. There is little worth noting in
the productions of either side, save the
somewhat curious fact that the Molinist divines did
not for the most part assert that the
supernatural manifestations had not in truth occurred,
but preferred maintaining that they were the
work of the Evil One. It was a more
professional solution of the difficulty, and had the
advantage of enabling them to point out that
the entire creed and party of Jansenism was thus
shown to be under the especial patronage and
protection of the fiend.

From cures, the "convulsionnaires" soon
advanced to prophecies; and more than one large
collection of these, for the most part,
unconnected ravings, was published. Meanwhile, the
violence and the scandal of the scenes occurring
daily and nightly in the cemetery of Saint-
Médard went on increasing. The devotees
consisted no longer exclusively of women, though,
as might be expected, they were always the
majority. But it now began to be announced, by
the "convulsionnaires" and their admirers, that
the "work of God in them could not be
accomplished save by means of suffering." The
patients, in the midst of their convulsions, cried
aloud for help-—" secours;" and persons called
"secouristes" were appointed for the purpose
of affording it: were appointed, for it seems
that those afflicted with this insanity and their
supporters, from an early stage of the business,
had formed themselves into a society. These
"secouristes" were generally men, and this
share of the business appears to have been the
principal part borne in it by the slronger sex.
The "secours" were divided into the little and
the great kind. The former consisted in merely
catching the convulsed patients when in danger
of falling, in composing their disordered dress,
and so forth. The "grands secours" were
afforded by supplying in various manners that
bodily suffering which was declared to be
needful to the completion of God's work in the
convulsed patient; and the trustworthy accounts
which are extant of the torments thus inflicted,
and borne without flinching, form one of the
most truly wonderful chapters in the long sad
history of human folly and delusion. The
wretched women were thrown to the ground
and trampled on with the utmost violence.
Their faces were stamped on by vigorous men.
They were mercilessly beaten with huge oaken
clubs. One case is recorded in which as many
as twenty men were at once trampling on the
prostrate body of a young woman. The unhappy
fanatics would call out the while to their
executioners to redouble their blows and increase their
exertions. In Picart's large work, above referred
to, are to be found two plates representing the
burial-ground of Saint-Médard during the
performances of these eighteenth century revivalists;
and the scenes depicted fully confirm the
statements of many contemporary witnesses, which
have been here condensed.

All that ecclesiastical reprobation and
condemnation could do to put down the
"convulsionnaires" and their supporters, had been done
from an early period of their appearance. But
at length, after the now celebrated cemetery had
been for four years, with more or less of i
ntermission, the scene of these disorderly doings,
the scandal, and even the breach of the public
peace, became such that the government thought
it necessary to interfere with a strong hand. The
lieutenant-general of police, Bertin, who seems
to have been a man of sense, had thought
ridicule a better arm than violence against such
offenders; and when applied to to act against
them, he had contented himself with telling them
that he would give them a regular license for
exhibiting themselves at the fairs. But ridicule
to be effective must be general. And the great
bulk of Paris, both friends and foes of the
revivalists, agreed in regarding the matter in a
very serious light.

At length, therefore, on the 27th of January,
1732, the cemetery of Saint-Médard was closed
by authority, an act which gave rise to a couplet
that has been remembered more generally than
the facts of the case it alluded to. On the day
following the closing of the cemetery a placard
was posted on its gate, with these words:

                   De par le roi, défense a Dieu,
                   De faire miracle en ce lieu.

The closing of the cemetery was, probably,
under the circumstances, judicious. But the
course of inquisition and persecution on which
the government now entered was very much
otherwise; and no doubt (as is now recognised
to be invariably the case) tended more than
anything else to give force and persistency to the
delusions which it sought to put an end to.
The "convulsionnaires" and their friends, shut
out from their wonted trysting-place,