escue.
The dragoons turned out in a body, and fired upon the people. An old
man was shot dead, a number of the villagers were taken prisoners,
and, with their hands tied to the horses' tails, were conducted for
punishment to Montauban.

All the towns and villages in Upper Languedoc were treated with the
same cruelty. Nismes was fined over and over again. Viverais was
treated with the usual severity. M. Desubas, the pastor, was taken
prisoner there, and conducted to Vernoux. As the soldiers led him
through the country to prison, the villagers came out in crowds to see
him pass. Many followed the pastor, thinking they might be able to
induce the magistrates of Vernoux to liberate him. The villagers were
no sooner cooped up in a mass in the chief street of the town, than
they were suddenly fired upon by the soldiers. Thirty persons were
killed on the spot, more than two hundred were wounded, and many
afterwards died of their wounds.

Desubas, the pastor, was conducted to Nismes, and from Nismes to
Montpellier. While on his way to death at Montpellier, some of his
peasant friends, who lived along the road, determined to rescue him.
But when Paul Rabaut heard of the proposed attempt, he ran to the
place where the people had assembled and held them back. He was
opposed to all resistance to the governing power, and thought it
possible, by patience and righteousness, to live down all this
horrible persecution.

Desubas was judged, and, as usual, condemned to death. Though it was
winter time, he was led to his punishment almost naked; his legs
uncovered, and only in thin linen vest over his body. Arrived at the
gallows, his books and papers were burnt before his eyes, and he was
then delivered over to the executioner. A Jesuit presented a crucifix
for him to kiss, but he turned his head to one side, raised his eyes
upwards, and was then hanged.

The same persecution prevailed over the greater part of France. In
Saintonge, Elie Vivien, the preacher, was taken prisoner, and hanged
at La Rochelle. His body remained for twenty-four hours on the
gallows. It was then placed upon a forked gibbet, where it hung until
the bones were picked clean by the crows and bleached by the wind and
the sun.[63]

[Footnote 63: E. Hughes, "Histoire de la Restauration," &c.,
ii. 202.]

The same series of persecutions went on from one year to another. It
was a miserable monotony of cruelty. There was hanging for the
pastors;