ieces of wood
in the shape of battledoors. This spot became the scene of the most
shameful and indecent practices. The catholic rabble turned the women's
petticoats over their heads, and so fastened them as to continue their
exposure, and their subjection to a newly invented species of
chastisement; for nails being placed in the wood of the _battoirs_ in
the form of _fleur-de-lis_, they beat them till the blood streamed from
their bodies, and their cries rent the air. Often was death demanded as
a commutation of this ignominious punishment, but refused with a
malignant joy. To carry their outrage to the highest possible degree,
several who were in a state of pregnancy were assailed in this manner.
The scandalous nature of these outrages prevented many of the sufferers
from making them public, and, especially, from relating the most
aggravating circumstances. "I have seen," says M. Durand, "a catholic
avocat, accompanying the assassins in the fauxbourg Bourgade, arm a
battoir with sharp nails in the form of _fleur-de-lis_; I have seen them
raise the garments of females, and apply, with heavy blows, to the
bleeding body this _battoir_ or battledoor, to which they gave a name
which my pen refuses to record. The cries of the sufferers--the streams
of blood--the murmurs of indignation which were suppressed by
fear--nothing could move them. The surgeons who attended on those women
who are dead, can attest, by the marks of their wounds, the agonies
which they must have endured, which, however horrible, is most strictly
true."

Nevertheless, during the progress of these horrors and obscenities, so
disgraceful to France and the catholic religion, the agents of
government had a powerful force under their command, and by honestly
employing it they might have restored tranquility. Murder and robbery,
however, continued, and were winked at, by the catholic magistrates,
with very few exceptions; the administrative authorities, it is true,
used words in their proclamations, &c. but never had recourse to actions
to stop the enormities of the persecutors, who boldly declared that, on
the 24th, the anniversary of St. Bartholomew, they intended to make a
general massacre. The members of the reformed church were filled with
terror, and, instead of taking part in the election of deputies, were
occupied as well as they could in providing for their own personal
safety.

_Arrival of the Austrians at Nismes._

About this time, a treaty be