the other side, St. Mesmin declares that the Franciscans have
counterfeited the affair in hope of 'black-mailing' him. The king,
therefore, appoints Fumee to inquire into the case. Thirteen friars
are lying in prison in Paris, where they have long been 'in great
wretchedness and poverty, and perishing of hunger,' a pretty example
of the law's delay. A commission is to try the case (November,
1534). The trouble had begun on February 22, 1533 (old style), when
Father Pierre d'Arras at five a.m. was called into the dormitory of
'les enfans,'--novices,--with holy water and everything proper.
Knocking was going on, and by a system of knocks, the spirit said it
wanted its body to be taken out of holy ground, said it was Madame
St Mesmin, and was damned for Lutheranism and extravagance! The
experiment was repeated before churchmen and laymen, but the lay
observers rushed up to the place whence the knocks came where they
found nothing. They hid some one there, after which there was no
knocking. On a later day, the noises as in Cock Lane and elsewhere,
began by scratching. "M. l'Official," the bishop's vicar, 'ouit
gratter, qui etoit le commencement de ladite accoutummee tumulte
dudit Esprit'. But no replies were given to questions, which the
Franciscans attributed to the disturbance of the day before, and the
breaking into various places by the people. One Alicourt seems to
have been regarded as the 'medium,' and the sounds were heard as in
Cock Lane and at Tedworth when he was in bed. Later experiments
gave no results, and the friars were severely punished, and obliged
to recant their charges against Madame de Mesmin. The case,
scratches, raps, false accusations and all, is parallel to that of
the mendacious 'Scratching Fanny,' examined by Dr. Johnson and
Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury. In that affair the child was driven
by threats to make counterfeit noises, but, as to the method of
imposture at Orleans, nothing is said in the contemporary legal
document.

We now turn to the account by Sleidan, in Wierus. The provost's
wife had left directions for a cheap funeral in the Franciscan
Church. This economy irritated the Fathers, who only got six pieces
of gold, 'having expected much greater plunder'. 'Colimannus'
(Colimant), an exorcist named in the process, was the ringleader.
They stationed a lad in the roof of the church, who rapped with a
piece of wood, and made a great noise 'when they mumbled their
prayers a