Protestantism in France From Death of Francis I to Edict of Nantes - James Aitken Wylie

moderate Reform; but instead of Reform came new
superstitions. Images of the Virgin were set up at
the corners of streets, tapers were lighted, and
persons stationed near on pretense of singing
hymns, but in reality to watch the countenance of
the passer-bys. If one looked displeased, or if he
refused to uncover to the Virgin, or if he did not
drop a coin into the box for defraying the cost of
the holy candle that was kept buring before "our
Lady," the cry of heretic was raised, and the
obnoxious individual was straightway surrounded
by the mob, and if not torn to pieces on the spot,
was carried off to the prison of the Chatelet. The
apprehensions were so numerous that the prisons
were filled to overflow, and the trials of the
incarcerated had to be hurried through to make
room for fresh victims. The cells emptied in the
morning were filled before night. "It was one vast
system of terror," says Felice, "in which even the
shadow of justice was no longer visible."[11]
No arts were neglected by the Guises and the
priests to maintain at a white heat the fanaticism of
the masses, on which their power to a large extent
107