savage country.

Montrevel adopted a policy of extermination, and 466 villages were
burned in the Upper Cevennes alone, the population being for the most
part put to the sword. Pope Clement XI. assisted in this work by issuing
a bull against the "execrable race of the ancient Albigenses," and
promising remission of sins to the holy militia which was now formed
among the Catholic population, and was called the Florentines, Cadets of
the Cross or White Camisards. Villars, the victor of Hochstadt and
Friedlingen, saw that conciliation was necessary; he took advantage of
the feeling of horror with which the quiet Protestants of Nimes and
other towns now regarded the war, and published an amnesty. In May 1704
a formal meeting between Cavalier and Villars took place at Nimes. The
result of the interview was that a document entitled _Tres humble
requete des reformes du Languedoc au Roi_ was despatched to the court.
The three leading requests for liberty of conscience and the right of
assembly outside walled towns, for the liberation of those sentenced to
prison or the galleys under the revocation, and for the restitution to
the emigrants of their property and civil rights, were all granted,--the
first on condition of no churches being built, and the third on
condition of an oath of allegiance being taken. The greater part of the
Camisard army under Roland, Ravenel and Joany would not accept the terms
which Cavalier had arranged. They insisted that the edict of Nantes must
be restored,--"_point de paix, que nous n'ayons nos temples_." They
continued the war till January 1705, by which time all their leaders
were either killed or dispersed.

In 1709 Mazel and Claris, with the aid of two preaching women, Marie
Desubas and Elizabeth Catalon, made a serious effort to rekindle revolt
in the Vivarais. In 1711 all opposition and all signs of the reformed
religion had disappeared. On the 8th of March 1715, by medals and a
proclamation, Louis XIV. announced the entire extinction of heresy.

What we know of the spiritual manifestations in the Cevennes (which much
resembled those of the Swedish Raestars of Smaland in 1844) is chiefly
derived from _Le Theatre sacre des Cevennes_, London, 1707, reprinted at
Paris in 1847; _A Cry From the Desert_, &c., by John Lacy, London, 1707;
_La Clef des propheties de M. Marion_, London, 1707; _Avertissements
prophetiques d'Elie Marion_, &c., London, 1707. About the date of these
publications the thre