ptain Bouillargues, for once he had to give way, so
strong was the party against him; therefore, despite the murmurs of the
fanatics, the city of Nimes resolved, not only to open its gates to
its sovereign, but to give him such a reception as would efface the bad
impression which Charles might have received from the history of recent
events. The royal procession was met at the Pont du Gare, where young
girls attired as nymphs emerged from a grotto bearing a collation, which
they presented to their Majesties, who graciously and heartily partook
of it. The repast at an end, the illustrious travellers resumed their
progress; but the imagination of the Nimes authorities was not to be
restrained within such narrow bounds: at the entrance to the city the
king found the Porte de la Couronne transformed into a mountain-side,
covered with vines and olive trees, under which a shepherd was tending
his flock. As the king approached the mountain parted as if yielding to
the magic of his power, the most beautiful maidens and the most noble
came out to meet their sovereign, presenting him the keys of the
city wreathed with flowers, and singing to the accompaniment of the
shepherd's pipe. Passing through the mountain, Charles saw chained to a
palm tree in the depths of a grotto a monster crocodile from whose jaws
issued flames: this was a representation of the old coat of arms granted
to the city by Octavius Caesar Augustus after the battle of Actium, and
which Francis I had restored to it in exchange for a model in silver of
the amphitheatre presented to him by the city. Lastly, the king found in
the Place de la Salamandre numerous bonfires, so that without waiting to
ask if these fires were made from the remains of the faggots used at the
martyrdom of Maurice Secenat, he went to bed very much pleased with the
reception accorded him by his good city of Nimes, and sure that all the
unfavourable reports he had heard were calumnies.

Nevertheless, in order that such rumours, however slight their
foundation, should not again be heard, the king appointed Damville
governor of Languedoc, installing him himself in the chief city of
his government; he then removed every consul from his post without
exception, and appointed in their place Guy-Rochette, doctor and lawyer;
Jean Beaudan, burgess; Francois Aubert, mason; and Cristol Ligier, farm
labourer--all Catholics. He then left for Paris, where a short time
after he concluded a treaty with the