enemies was Trinquant, the king's procureur, whose
daughter's affections had been won by Granuier, and
to whom it was on good grounds supposed that her
virtue had been likewise surrendered.
" The exposure of the young lady was prevented
by an act of friendship that deserves to be recorded.
Marthe Pelletier, by whom the unfortunate girl was
tenderly beloved, disguised from the world the fruits
of the amour, and took upon herself the whole re-
proach, by declaring the child to be her own, and
bestowing upon it the care of a tender mother.
" The enemies of Grandier, attracted by a sympa-
thy of hate, drew every day closer together; till at
length a desperate combination was formed for his
utter destruction. Accusation upon accusation was
preferred against him, on the score of his imputed
profligacies and impieties ; but not a single woman ,
could be found to appear against him, and the evi-
228 LOOKER-ON. N 71.
dence altogether involved so many palpable contra-
dictions, that although the part taken against him by
the bishop of Poitiers procured his frequent impri-
sonment, the strength of his cause triumphed over
all the malice of his persecutors. He continued how-
ever to wind up to the highest possible pitch the vi-
rulence of their hate, by the insulting and imperious
deportment he adopted towards them.
" It was about this time that the archbishop of
Bourdeaux, in whose court he had been acquitted,
and who appeared to be well disposed towards him,
on account of his superior attainments, advised him
with much earnestness to abandon his present situa-
tion, and seek repose from the vindictive persecu-
tions of his enemies in some distant benefice. But,
unhappily, Urbain Grandier was not of a character to
follow this counsel: he loved too well the gratifica-
tion of his vengeance, not to pursue the conquests
he had already made. It was suspected, besides,
that there lived a young person atLoudunfrom whom
he could not resolve to be separated. Alas! what
transcendancy of virtue is necessary to oppose this
sort of temptation in a man whose profession forbids
him to marry, while the sensibilities of an ardent
complexion are urging him with all their violence,
and the opportunities which personal accomplish-
ments produce are tempting him with all their per-
suasion !
" It was in vain that the friends of Grandier re-
monstrated with him against the manifest imprudence
of drawing upon himself the vengeance of an impla-
cable and powerful cabal, and of challenging the full
effects of their utmost malignancy, by an opposition
that could end in neither honour nor advantage. He
was not to be moved by these representations, and
N71- LOOKER-ON. 229
continued to gall and irritate the festering wounds he
had inflicted on the credit and feelings of his ene-
mies, till at length they were prepared for a conspi-
racy so dark, so durable, so complicated, that it may
be said to stand alone in the history of the human
heart. The following was the plan of revenge adopt-
ed by this savage combination: It appears that
Mignon, with the assistance of certain others dis-
posed like himself, exercised the nuns of his convent
every day in playing the part of persons possessed
with devils. They were accordingly taught to imi-
tate the contortions and convulsions which are sup-
posed to belong to this afflicted state.
" It would not be unreasonable, in this place, for
your readers to demand, how it was possible for a
whole convent to be engaged in such an inhuman
plot? how it was possible for the hearts of young
and inexperienced females to be thus hardened
against those feelings so natural to their age and sex,
in a case too wherein youth and elegance were to be
the mournful sacrifice? Such a question, however,
can only be answered by the fact itself. The whole
story of their being possessed with devils appears un-
questionably to have been an imposture, to which
Grandier was at length a victim ; and as it seemed to
have no other end but the destruction of this devoted
object of their hate, we are justified in supposing that
it was purely in this view that the whole contrivance
was undertaken. Arguments too might easily have
been used with such young and prejudiced persons,
capable of lessening the horrors of the scene in which,
they were acting, drawn from the interests of their
particular convent, and of the church in general.
They might have been persuaded, that it was praise-
worthy to operate towards an end so conducive to the
vol. xuu. x
230 LOOKER-ON. N71.
honour of the church, as the punishing a profligate
character, by any, the darkest contrivances; that
they would render themselves conspicuous thereby
to their country, and to Europe at large, and draw to
themselves a greater contribution of alms, and a more
numerous conflux of pensioners. However it was,
they certainly, day after day, for a length of time,
were practised in the parts of persons possessed in
all the grimaces, contortions, and convulsions, which
were supposed to indicate this terrible condition of
humanity. It was said, that Mignon, their director,
took care to bind them to secrecy, as well as to a co-
operation, by the most dark and tremendous oaths.
" The rumour of this possession, as it was called,
of the nuns of Loudun, at first ran silently through
the town. The moment it became a public topic,
Mignon exorcised the superior of the convent, and
another nun. In these exorcisms he joined to him-
self Bane, cure de St. Jaques de Chinon, a man of a
gloomy and melancholy habit, and full of ambition
to be regarded as a saint. He came with great pa-
rade to Loudun. at the head of his parishioners, whom
he led in procession, walking himself on foot, to give
lustre to the proceeding. The two ecclesiastics, hav-
ing exercised themselves and their pupils in this
mockery for a week, judged themselves qualified to
support a public exhibition. Granger, cure de Ve-
nier, united himself to this cruel cabal for what
reason it is not exactly known, since there was no
visible motive on his part. Pie undertook, however,
to represent the state of the convent to Guillaume de
Cerisay de la Gueriniere, bailli du Loudonois, and
Louis Chauvet, lieutenant civil, and to request their
attendance at the exorcisms which were about to
take place. He assured them, that in her paroxysms
N* 71. LOOKER-OX. 231
one of the nuns spoke Latin with ease, although she
had never learned that language.
" The two magistrates repaired to the monastery,
to assist at these ceremonies, and, in case they should
see reason to believe that the possessions were real, to
authorise the exorcisms ; otherwise, to stop the course
of an illusion that might bring great discredit upon
the church and religion in general. As soon as these
officers made their appearance, the superior of the
convent fell into strange convulsions, and distorted
her features into such horrible grimaces, that, from
one of the handsomest women in France, she became
in a moment one of the most deformed. To add to
this effect, she imitated the cries of a young pig with
singular success. At her right hand stood a White
Friar, and Mignon at her left. The latter conjured
the demon to answer to the following questions :
' For what reason have you entered into the body of
this maid?' From a principle of animosity.' ' By
what compact?' ' By flowers.' 'What flowers?'
* Roses.' ' Who sent them?' ' Urbain.' She pro-
nounced this name with apparent repugnance, and
with violent throes and convulsions. ' Tell me his
surname,' said Mignon. ' Grandier,' answered the
supposed demon.
" It was plain enough that the superior might
easily have learned, in the course of the time in
which they had been forming her to the character, a
sufficiency of Latin to make these few answers in that
language, and that, to have put her fairly to the proof,
the examination should have been committed to ec-
clesiastics to whom she was a stranger. The soeur
laie, who was also very pretty, began her part as
soon as the other had finished, and went through the
same mockery. The devil of this last proved not so
x2
232 LOOKEIt-OTf. N71.
learned, and referred her examiners to the other devil
for the information they required. After the scene
was over, the judges retired.
" The affair began now to be the subject of all
conversations in the town, and the name of Grandier
to be in every body's mouth. The credulous and su-
perstitious part of the neighbourhood bowed their un-
derstandings ; the simple took all upon trust, through
reverence and want of discernment : but all thinking
and sensible persons saw clearly the absurdity of the
whole proceeding, though their charity at first would
not suffer them to suppose that it had for its object so
truly diabolical a purpose. They could not help re-
marking, however, that when Mignon was urged to
demand of the demon the cause of that animosity
which occasioned the compact between him and
Grandier, he refused to comply, because, in reality,
it was a question to which he had not taught the nun
a Latin answer. They could not but admire the ig-
norance of the devil that possessed the soeur laie. It
occurred also, that these devils had forgotten to vary
their parts, since they had played exactly the same
scene before different persons. They remarked too
the excess of Mignon's hate, which could not con-
ceal itself, where disguise would have been political.
The share too which the Carmelites took in the
transaction seemed plainly to result from the re-
sentment they bore towards Grandier, for the con-
tempt in which he held their preaching. And lastly,
they observed that the enemies of Grandier assem-
bled every night in a house of Trinquant's, at the
village of Puidardane.
" The next time the magistrates made their ap-
pearance in the convent, the convulsions were just
finished, but the superior was foaming and drivelling
K*71. LOOKER-G.V. 233
at the mouth, and presented a spectacle squalid and
shocking. Barre demanded of the demon ' When he
should depart?' He replied, ' To-morrow morning.'
He next asked, ' For what reason he should remain
till that time?' The devil replied, * It is a com-
pact,' and immediately after, ' Sacerdos, finis.' It
seemed as if he hardly knew what he said, and was
come to the end of his Latin. After many ceremo-
nies had been performed, and a long list of the names
of saints repeated, the superior regained her tranquil-
lity, and regarding Barre with a smile, declared that
the demon had left her. She was asked if she re-
membered the questions which had been addressed
to her ? to which she replied in the negative. After
she had taken a little nourishment, she assured those
around her that it was about the hour of six in the
evening when the demon first invaded her ; that she
was in bed, with several nuns in her chamber. She
could perceive that somebody took one of her hands,
and, after having put into it three black pins, closed
it again.
" It is strange to think that such absurdities should
not have inspired universal disgust among any people
above barbarous ignorance; the only shadow of ex-
cuse under which such torpid credulity could shelter
itself, was the natural repugnance men felt at ima-
gining that there could be found capable of so horrid
a machination, so large a number of their fellow
creatures, and that too among the ministers and vo-
taries of a mild and merciful religion.
" A similar scene was every day acted before the
magistrates and officers of the town. The bailli,
however, and the lieutenant civil, were not among
the number of the implicit believers, and refused to au-
thorise or accredit any relations of miracles to which
x3
234- LOOKER-ON. N 71.
they themselves were not ocular witnesses. Grandier
had regarded in profound tranquillity the first pro-
ceedings 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 im-
pressions 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 ar-
gument to expose a delusion so gross. Grandier ob-
tained from the magistrate a candid attention to his
representations, who entered them in the public re-
gister, 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 Rene 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 com-
ply, 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 tre-
mendous oaths with which Barre, the principal exor-
ciser, protested his veracity before the magistrates
and judges, overawed little minds, and gained vast
credit to the imposture.
N 71. LOOKER-ON. 235
" The transaction had need of all these sanctions
to support it ; for, emboldened by success, the machi-
nators, 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 clum-
sily 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 ma-
jority of the people."
'236 LOOKER-ON. N 72.
N72. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28.
Hdc scevil ralie imbelle et inutile vulgus. Juvenal.
Such rage inflam'd an useless coward crew.
" Regardless of the interpretations which good
sense might have given to their proceedings, and
of the infamy they were accumulating npon their
names and their order, the enemies of Grandier
were pursuing with steadfast malignity their plan of
revenge, when they received a blow from an unex-
pected quarter, which confounded them for a while,
and checked the career of their malice. The archbi-
shop 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 pos-
session 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 archbi-
shop, touched with the representations of Grandier,
N 72. LOOKER-ON. 237
deputed unbiassed persons to examine fairly and
dispassionately the circumstances of this extraor-
dinary affair; and to this end, to separate the afflict-
ed 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. Barre 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 me-
tropolitan. 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 acci-
dents, however, Mignon relaxed nothing of his hor-
rid purpose, and his hate was only the more exas-
perated by disappointment.
" While things were in this train, an event as un-
expected as it was decisive, drove the current of ad-
versity 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 car-
dinal Richelieu, the ordinary instrument of his op-
pressions, and, when any subject was to be sacrificed
without the formalities of justice, the most dexterous
agent on those sanguinary occasions. An old con-
nection had subsisted between him and the perse-
238 LOOKER-ON. N 72.
cutors of Grandier ; and no sooner did he make his
appearance at Lpudun, but the cabal recovered their
spirits, and rallied round him with an exultation
which they toojt 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 com-
mon rate, and no despicable vein of wit and irony, a
suspicion fell upon her, supported by other circum-
stances, of having written a most unmerciful satire
upon the cardinal, entitled La belle Cordonniere. 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 emi-
nence'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 ex-
cited 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 oc-
curred to the conspirators that they could not by any
contrivance more effectually promote their object,
than by attributing to this unfortunate man a corre-
spondence with the supposed authoress, and a parti-
cular 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 IVI. de Laubardemont returned to
Paris. He there made a report of the condition of
the nuns, whom he represented to be really pos-
sessed with devils, after having given them, as he
N*> 72. LOOKER-ON. 239
declared, a full and unprejudiced examination. It
is true, that since the arrival of Laubardemont a nu-
merous reinforcement had been added to the list of
the possessed, and the ladies had somewhat improved
themselves in the parts they were to play.
" The cardinal trusted entirely to M. de Laubarde-
mont the execution of his vengeance, who returned
to Loudon with a full commission to bring Grandier
to his trial, and to decide finally on each article of
the accusation. The first step of this minister was to
order Grandier to prison, without waiting for any in-
formation against him, who, though forewarned of
this intention in time to make his escape, disdained
to confess himself a culprit by flying the face of
justice. He was seized the next morning before it
was light, as he walked to his church to assist at
matins, and was immediately conveyed to the castle
at Angers, where he lay in a dungeon for three
months. Here he composed a volume of prayers
and meditations, which breathed nothing but piety,
forgiveness, and resignation ; a composition of great
elegance both for diction. and sentiment, and which
looked very little like the production of a magician's
brain. This work, which was exhibited on his trial,
operated as little in his favour as the testimony of
his confessor, who visited him in prison. His ene-
mies were sworn to destroy him. Some feeble
struggles were made for the poor ecclesiastic by his
aged mother, who presented several appeals in vain.
He was tried on the 19th of December, 1633, on the
grounds of the supposed possessions ; and Grandier,
though surrounded with bitter enemies, and with a
miserable death staring him in the face, wore a coun-
tenance serene and unmoved, while the villainous
artifices of this monstrous conspiracy were played off
before him. *
240 LOOKER-ON. No 72.
" The bishop of Poitiers deputed as principal ex-
orcist, Deniorans, one of the most declared of Gran-
dier's enemies ; and from this moment all the world
saw clearly that the ruin of the man was a thing re-
solved upon. He was now thrown into a prison at
Loudun, with only such necessaries as nature de-
manded. From this mansion of misery he wrote a
Christian-like letter to his mother, betraying no
symptoms of mental perturbation or sorrow, request-
ing 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, endea-
voured to resist such a confederacy of ignorance : it
was in vain that the devoted Grandier exclaimed
against such an open injustice! M. de Laubarde-
mont 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,
4 What,' cried he, ' have you the audacity to say
that I am your seducer ? ' ' The same,' cried she,
X 72. LOOKER-ON. 241
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 stra-
tagem 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 fra-
ternity. The exorcisms were now recommenced with
all their fury ; and the cabal, covered with a protec-
tion 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 su-
perior 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 ac-
cordingly 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-
VOL. XLIII. Y
c 22 LOOKER-ON. N 72.
posure under his sufferings drew tears of pity from