has thus
sharply reprimanded them, by making the parents responsible, thrown
those into prison and sending the fathers to the galleys, for it was
conjectured that from these alone proceeded the delusion. A peasant,
one of my parishoners, came to me, saying 'for God's sake sir, help me!
my little girl, six years old, began yesterday to prophecy, I am a dead
man if the thing becomes known; my wife and I are certainly of the true
faith as you can testify, but now they will arrest us as rebels, as
they have done to so many others.'

"Only use the whip," said I, "let the girl hunger and she will soon
forget to prophecy. 'All that has been tried, reverend sir,' groaned
the old man, 'and more than my conscience will justify; the child is
ill from my ill-treatment, for as soon as she begins to prophecy, or to
sing psalms, which she has never heard from me, I have chastised her
severely; I have not given her a morsel of bread for three days, yet
she does not give up, but goes on still worse. Come, I pray, to my
house and see yourself; if she is possessed by a devil, you can
conjure, is it any thing else, you can exhort.' I had never seen such
prophecying creatures, I went therefore out of curiosity with the old
man. As we entered the house, the child was sitting at a spinning
wheel, she was pale and thin, and seemed half silly, she complained of
hunger and pain. I can see nothing in the child, said I, 'oh, if she
was always reasonable like that,' exclaimed the peasant. Presently the
worm was seized with a sobbing in the throat: 'there we have the gift,'
said the old man, 'the disorder is breaking out now--exorcise, reverend
sir!' as the little creature was thus struggling, her body dilated, she
fell on the ground, her bosom throbbed and heaved, and suddenly we
heard as it were quite a strange tone, which did not belong to the
child. 'I tell thee, my child, if thy parents repent and follow the
spirit, all will be right and good, and thou shalt partake of liberty
and of my word.' I was terrified, especially as the devil spoke as pure
French as the child of persons of rank; I sprinkled her with holy
water, I vehemently conjured that the devil, if it was one, might come
out of her; all in vain, the little thing cried out, 'I tell you, the
idolaters shall not prevail against you, and this evil one shall find
the reward of his misdeeds,' thereby meaning myself: the unfortunate
child, because I was so zealous in my calling; then follo