f their town, a detachment was sent out to
cut them down as soon as they began to come up, and likewise a little
corn that they had sown in some dry spots of their marshes." Louis the
Just fought the Rochellese in other fashion than that in which Henry the
Great had fought the Parisians.

The misery in the place became frightful; the poor died of hunger, or
were cut down by the soldiery when they ventured upon shore at low tide
to look for cockles; the price of provisions was such that the richest
alone could get a little meat to eat; a cow fetched two thousand livres,
and a bushel of wheat eight hundred livres. Madame de Rohan had been the
first to have her horses killed, but this resource was exhausted, and her
cook at last "left the town and allowed himself to be taken, saying that
he would rather be hanged than return to die of hunger." A rising even
took place amongst the inhabitants who were clamorous to surrender, but
Guiton had the revolters hanged. "I am ready," said he, "to cast lots
with anybody else which shall live or be killed to feed his comrade with
his flesh. As long as there is one left to keep the gates shut, it is
enough." The mutineers were seized with terror, and men died without
daring to speak. "We have been waiting three months for the effect of the
excellent letters we received from the King of Great Britain," wrote
Guiton on the 24th of August, to the deputies from La Rochelle who were
in London, "and, meanwhile, we cannot see by what disasters it happens
that we remain here in misery without seeing any sign of succor; our men
can do no more, our inhabitants are dying of hunger in the streets, and
all our families are in a fearful state from mourning, want, and
perplexity; nevertheless, we will hold out to the last day, but in God's
name delay no longer, for we perish." This letter never reached its
destination; the watchmaker, Marc Biron; who had offered to convey it to
England, was arrested whilst attempting to pass the royal lines, and was
immediately hanged. La Rochelle, however, still held out. "Their rabid
fury," says the cardinal, "gave them new strength, or rather the avenging
wrath of God caused them to be supplied therewith in extraordinary
measure by his evil spirit, in order to prolong their woes; they were
already almost at the end thereof, and misery found upon them no more
substance whereon it could feed and support itself; they were skeletons,
empty shadows, breathing co