So it was on a horse hired from the Breton arme that he set out next morning; and an hour's brisk ride under a grey wintry sky, by a half-ruined road through ten miles of flat, uninteresting country, brought him to the city of Rennes.
He rode across the main bridge over the Vilaine, and so into the upper and principal part of that important city of some thirty thousand souls, most of whom, he opined from the seething, clamant crowds that everywhere blocked his way, must on this day have taken to the streets.
Clearly Philippe had not overstated the excitement prevailing there.
He pushed on as best he could, and so came at last to the Place Royale, where he found the crowd to be most dense.

From the plinth of the equestrian statue of Louis XV, a white-faced young man was excitedly addressing the multitude.

His youth and dress proclaimed the student, and a group of his fellows, acting as a guard of honour to him, kept the immediate precincts of the statue.
Over the heads of the crowd Andre-Louis caught a few of the phrases flung forth by that eager voice.
"It was the promise of the King...

It is the King's authority they flout...

They arrogate to themselves the whole sovereignty in Brittany.
The King has dissolved them...