ge, and arrived in the middle of the Camisards at the very moment
when they had just caught sight of M. de Broglie and his troops in the
distance. The Calvinists happening to have no leader, Cavalier with
governing faculty which some men possess by nature, placed himself at
their head and took those measures for the reception of the royal forces
of which we have seen the result, so that after the victory to which his
head and arm had contributed so much he was confirmed in the title which
he had arrogated to himself, by acclamation.

Such was the famous Jean Cavalier when the Royalists first learned of
his existence, through the repulse of their bravest troops and the death
of their most intrepid captain.

The news of this victory soon spread through the Cevennes, and fresh
conflagrations lit up the mountains in sign of joy. The beacons were
formed of the chateau de la Bastide, the residence of the Marquis de
Chambonnas, the church of Samson, and the village of Grouppieres, where
of eighty houses only seven were left standing.

Thereupon M. de Julien wrote to the king, explaining the serious turn
things had taken, and telling him that it was no longer a few fanatics
wandering through the mountains and flying at the sight of a dragoon
whom they had to put down, but organised companies well led and
officered, which if united would form an army twelve to fifteen hundred
strong. The king replied by sending M. le Comte de Montrevel to Nimes.
He was the son of the Marechal de Montrevel, chevalier of the Order of
the Holy Spirit, major-general, lieutenant of the king in Bresse and
Charolais, and captain of a hundred men-at-arms.

In their struggle against shepherds, keepers, and peasants, M. de
Brogue, M. de Julien, and M. de Baville were thus joined together
with the head of the house of Beaune, which had already at this epoch
produced two cardinals, three archbishops, two bishops, a viceroy
of Naples, several marshals of France, and many governors of Savoy,
Dauphine, and Bresse.

He was followed by twenty pieces of ordnance, five thousand bullets,
four thousand muskets, and fifty thousand pounds of powder, all of
which was carried down the river Rhone, while six hundred of the skilful
mountain marksmen called 'miquelets' from Roussillon came down into
Languedoc.

M. de Montrevel was the bearer of terrible orders. Louis XIV was
determined, no matter what it cost, to root out heresy, and set about
this work as if his et