ldren armed with clubs and scythes, arrive one morning before
the town. On being asked by whose orders they come in this fashion,
they reply, "by the orders which their patriotism has given them."--"The
fanatics," or partisans of the sworn priests, "are the cause of their
journey": they therefore "want lodgings at the expense of the fanatics
only." The three day's occupation results for the latter and for the
town in a cost of 20,000 livres.[2433] They begin by breaking everything
in the church of the Recollets, and wall up its doors. They then expel
unsworn ecclesiastics from the town, and disarm their partisans. The
club of Apt, which is the sole authority, remains in session three days:
"the municipal bodies in the vicinity appear before it, apologize for
themselves, protest their civism, and ask as a favor that no detachment
be sent to their places. Individuals are sent for to be interrogated";
several are proscribed, among whom are administrators, members of the
court, and the syndic-attorney. A number of citizens have fled;--the
town is purged, while the same purging is pursued in numbers of places
in and out of the district.[2434] It is, indeed, attractive business.
It empties the purses of the ill-disposed, and fills the stomachs of
patriots; it is agreeable to be well entertained, and especially at the
expense of one's adversaries; the Jacobin is quite content to save the
country through a round of feastings. Moreover, he has the satisfaction
of playing king among his neighbors, and not only do they feed him for
doing them this service, but, again, they pay him for it.[2435]--All
this is enlivening, and the expedition, which is a "sabbath," ends in
a carnival. Of the two Marseilles divisions, one, led back to Aix, sets
down to "a grand patriotic feast," and then dances fandangoes, of which
"the principal one is led off by the mayor and commandant";[2436] the
other makes its entry into Avignon the same day, with still greater pomp
and jollity.

IV.--The Jacobins of Avignon.

How they obtain recruits.--Their robberies in the Comtat.
--The Avignon municipality in flight or in prison.--Murder of
Lecuyer and the Glaciere massacre.--Entry of the murderers,
supported by their Marseilles allies.--Jacobin dictatorship
in Vaucluse and the Buches-du-Rhone.

Nowhere else in France was there another nest of brigands like it: not
that a great misery might have produced a more savage uprising;