ier, in Languedoc--districts which,
fifteen years before, had been the scenes of the Camisard war. There,
in unknown valleys, on hillsides, on the mountains, in the midst of
hostile towns and villages, the missionaries sought out the huts, the
farms, and the dwellings of the scattered, concealed, and
half-frightened Huguenots. Amidst the open threats of the magistrates
and others in office, and the fear of the still more hateful priests
and spies, they went from house to house, and prayed, preached,
advised, and endeavoured to awaken the zeal of their old allies of the
"Religion."

The preachers were for the most part poor, and some of them were
labouring men. They were mostly natives of Languedoc. Jean Vesson, a
cooper by trade, had in his youth been "inspired," and prophesied in
his ecstasy. Mazelet, now an elderly man, had formerly been celebrated
among the Camisards, and preached with great success before the
soldiers of Roland. At forty he was not able to read or write; but
having been forced to fly into Switzerland, he picked up some
education at Geneva, and had studied divinity under a fellow-exile.

Bombonnoux had been a brigadier in the troop of Cavalier. After his
chief's defection he resolved to continue the war to the end, by
preaching, if not by fighting. He had been taken prisoner and
imprisoned at Montpellier, in 1705. Two of his Camisard friends were
first put upon the rack, and then, while still living, thrown upon a
pile and burnt to death before his eyes. But the horrible character of
the punishment did not terrify him. He contrived to escape from prison
at Montpellier, and then went about convoking assemblies and preaching
to the people as before.

Besides these, there were Huc, Corteiz, Durand, Arnaud, Brunel, and
Rouviere or Crotte, who all went about from place to place, convoking
assemblies and preaching. There were also some local preachers, as
they might be called--old men who could not move far from home--who
worked at their looms or trades, sometimes tilling the ground by day,
and preaching at night. Amongst these were Monteil, Guillot, and
Bonnard, all more than sixty years of age.

Court, because of his youth and energy, seems to have been among the
most active of the preachers. One day, near St. Hypolite, a chief
centre of the Huguenot population, he convoked an assembly on a
mountain side, the largest that had taken place for many years. The
priests of the parish gave information to