in the
manikin's stead. This occurred the eleventh of June, 1790.

The whole French town wrote to the National Assembly that she gave
herself to France, and with her the Rhone, her commerce, the Midi, and
the half of Provence.

The National Assembly was in one of its reactionary moods. It did not
wish to quarrel with the Pope; it dallied with the King, and the matter
was adjourned. From that moment the rising became a revolt, and the Pope
was free to do with Avignon what the court might have done with Paris,
if the Assembly had delayed its proclamation of the Rights of Man.
The Pope ordered the annulment of all that had occurred at the Comtat
Venaissin, the re-establishment of the privileges of the nobles and
clergy, and the reinstallation of the Inquisition in all its rigor. The
pontifical decrees were affixed to the walls.

One man, one only, in broad daylight dared to go straight to the walls,
in face of all, and tear down the decree. His name was Lescuyer. He
was not a young man; and therefore it was not the fire of youth that
impelled him. No, he was almost an old man who did not even belong to
the province. He was a Frenchman from Picardy, ardent yet reflective, a
former notary long since established at Avignon.

It was a crime that Roman Avignon remembered; a crime so great that the
Virgin wept!

You see Avignon is another Italy. She must have her miracles, and if
God will not perform them, so surely will some one be at hand to invent
them. Still further, the miracle must be a miracle pertaining to the
Virgin. La Madonna! the mind, the heart, the tongue of the Italians are
full of these two words.

It was in the Church of the Cordeliers that this miracle occurred. The
crowd rushed there. It was much that the Virgin should weep; but a rumor
spread at the same time that brought the excitement to a climax. A large
coffer, tightly sealed, had been carried through the city; this chest
had excited the curiosity of all Avignon. What did it contain? Two hours
later it was no longer a coffer; but eighteen trunks had been seen going
toward the Rhone. As for their contents, a porter had revealed that;
they contained articles from the Mont-de-Piete that the French party
were taking with them into exile. Articles from the Mont-de-Piete, that
is to say, the spoils of the poor! The poorer the city the richer its
pawn-shops. Few could boast such wealth as those of Avignon. It was no
longer a factional affair, it was a the