of a despair which might convincingly betray the facts of the
case to the assembled multitude, they seem to have prevailed upon
the condemned to keep silence up to the last moment, under
promise of an easier death. But already fastened to the stake, he
learned too late the treachery of his executioners; instead of
being first strangled, he was committed alive to the flames. Nor
were any 'last confessions' possible. The unfortunate victim of
the malice of exasperated rivals, and of the animosity of the
implacable Richelieu, has been variously represented.[123] It is
noticeable that the scene of this affair was in the heart of the
conquered Protestant region--Rochelle had fallen only six years
before the execution; and the heretics, although politically
subdued, were numerous and active. A fact which may account for
the seeming indifference and even the opposition of a large
number of the people in this case of diabolism which obtained
comparatively little credit. It had been urged to the nuns that
it would be for the good and glory of Catholicism that the
heretics should be confounded by a few astounding miracles.
Whether Grandier had any decided heretical inclinations is
doubtful; but he wrote against the celibacy of the priesthood,
and was suspected of liberal opinions in religion. A Capuchin
named Tranquille (a contemporary) has furnished the materials for
the 'History of the Devils of Loudun' by the Protestant Aubin,
1716.

[123] Michelet apparently accepts the charge of immorality;
according to which the cure took advantage of his popularity
among the ladies of Loudun, by his insinuating manners, to
seduce the wives and daughters of the citizens. By another
writer (Alexandre Dumas, _Celebrated Crimes_) he is supposed
to have been of a proud and vindictive disposition, but
innocent of the alleged irregularities.

Twenty-four years previously a still more scandalous affair--that
of Louis Gauffridi and the Convent of Aix, in which Gauffridi, who
had debauched several girls both in and out of the establishment,
was the principal actor--was transacted with similar circumstances.
Madeleine, one of the novices, soon after entering upon her
noviciate, was seized with the ecstatic trances, which were
speedily communicated to her companions.[124] These fits, in the
judgment of the priests, were nothing but the effect of witchcraft.
Exorcists elicited from the girls that Louis Gauffridi, a powerful
magicia