e of the Marne, and the pillagers crossed the bridge to the Grand
Marche. Finding only the women, who had remained in the vain hope of
saving their family possessions, the papists wreaked their fury upon them.
About twenty-five of these unhappy persons were murdered in cold
blood;[1088] others were so severely beaten that they died within a few
days; a few were shamefully dishonored. In most cases, if not in all,
outward acquiescence in the ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church would
have saved the lives of the victims, but the Huguenot women were constant
and would yield no hypocritical consent. One poor woman, the wife of
"Nicholas the cap-maker," was being dragged to mass, when her bold and
impolitic expressions of detestation of the service so enraged her
conductors, that, being at that moment upon the bridge which unites the
two portions of the city, they stabbed her and threw her body into the
river. In a short time the Grand Marche, which the precise chronicler
tells us contained more than four hundred houses, was robbed of everything
which could be removed, for not the most insignificant article escaped the
cupidity of the Roman Catholic populace.[1089]

These were but the preliminaries of the general massacre. The prisons were
full of Huguenots, whom it was necessary to put out of the way. Late in
the day, on Tuesday the twenty-sixth, Cosset and his band made their
appearance. They were provided with a list of their destined victims, more
than two hundred in number. Of a score or two the names have been
preserved, with their respective avocations. They were merchants, judicial
officers, industrious artisans--in short, the representatives of the
better class of the population of Meaux. Not one escaped. The murderous
band were stationed in the courtyard of the prison, while Cosset, armed
with a pistol in either hand, mounted the steps, and by his roll summoned
the Protestants to the slaughter awaiting them below. The bloody work was
long and tedious. The assassins adjourned awhile for their supper, and,
unable to complete the task before weariness blunted the edge of their
ferocity, reserved a part of the Protestants for the next day. None the
less was the task accomplished with thoroughness, and the exultant
cutthroats now had leisure to pursue the fugitives of the Grand Marche to
the villages in which they had taken refuge.[1090]

[Sidenote: The massacre at Troyes.]

The news of the Parisian massacre reached