t instance was said to have occurred in the
family of a glass-dealer, of the name of Du Serre, well known as the
most zealous Calvinist of the neighbourhood, which was a solitary spot
in Dauphine, near Mount Peyra. In the enlarging circle of enthusiasts,
Gabriel Astier and Isabella Vincent made themselves first conspicuous.
Isabella, a girl of sixteen years of age, from Dauphine, who was in the
service of a peasant, and tended sheep, began in her sleep to preach and
prophesy, and the Reformers came from far and near to hear her. An
advocate, of the name of Gerlan, describes the following scene which he
had witnessed. At his request she had admitted him, and a good many
others, after nightfall, to a meeting at a chateau in the neighbourhood.
She there disposed herself upon a bed, shut her eyes, and went to sleep;
in her sleep she chanted in a low tone the Commandments and a psalm;
after a short respite she began to preach in a louder voice, not in her
own dialect, but in good French, which hitherto she had not used. The
theme was an exhortation to obey God rather than man. Sometimes she
spoke so quickly as to be hardly intelligible. At certain of her pauses,
she stopped to collect herself. She accompanied her words with
gesticulations. Gerlan found her pulse quiet, her arm not rigid, but
relaxed, as natural. After an interval, her countenance put on a mocking
expression, and she began anew her exhortation, which was now mixed with
ironical reflections upon the Church of Rome. She then suddenly stopped,
continuing asleep. It was in vain they stirred her. When her arms were
lifted and let go, they dropped unconsciously. As several now went away,
whom her silence rendered impatient, she said in a low tone, but just as
if she was awake, "Why do you go away? Why do not you wait till I am
ready?" And then she delivered another ironical discourse against the
Catholic Church, which she closed with a prayer.

When Boucha, the intendant of the district, heard of the performances of
Isabella Vincent, he had her brought before him. She replied to his
interrogatories, that people had often told her that she preached in her
sleep, but that she did not herself believe a word of it. As the
slightness of her person made her appear younger than she really was,
the intendant merely sent her to an hospital at Grenoble, where,
notwithstanding that she was visited by persons of the Reformed
persuasion, there was an end of her preaching,--she b