All night the same things went on; nothing was to be heard but preaching, singing, praying, and prophesying." But if it was a time of joy for the Protestants, it was a time of humiliation for the Catholics.

"Certainly," says a contemporary historian, "it was a very surprising thing, and quite a novelty, to see in a province like Languedoc, where so many troops were quartered, such a large number of villains--all murderers, incendiaries, and guilty of sacrilege--gathered together in one place by permission of those in command of the troops; tolerated in their eccentricities, fed at the public expense, flattered by everyone, and courteously, received by people sent specially to meet them." One of those who was most indignant at this state of things was M.de Baville.

He was so eager to put an end to it that he went to see the governor, and told him the scandal was becoming too great in his opinion: the assemblies ought to be put an end to by allowing the troops to fall upon them and disperse them; but the governor thought quite otherwise, and told Baville that to act according to his advice would be to set fire to the province again and to scatter for ever people whom they had got together with such difficulty.

In any case, he reminded Baville that what he objected to would be over in a few days.

His opinion was that de Baville might stifle the expression of his dissatisfaction for a little, to bring about a great good.