Presently one of the rabble, a ragged fellow of mechanical aspect, in a tattered black doublet and an old straw hat, ascended the pulpit.  Opening a sacred volume which he found there, he began to deliver an extemporaneous and coarse caricature of a monkish sermon.  Some of the bystanders applauded, some cried shame, some shouted “long live the beggars!” some threw sticks and rubbish at the mountebank, some caught him by the legs and strove to pull him from the place.  He, on the other hand, manfully maintained his ground, hurling back every missile, struggling with his assailants, and continuing the while to pour forth a malignant and obscene discourse.  At last a young sailor, warm in the Catholic Faith, and impulsive as mariners are prone to be, ascended the pulpit from behind, sprang upon the mechanic, and flung him headlong down the steps.  The preacher grappled with his enemy as he fell, and both came rolling to the ground.  Neither was much injured, but a tumult ensued.  A pistol-shot was fired, and the sailor wounded in the arm.  Daggers were drawn, cudgels brandished, the bystanders taking part generally against the sailor, while those who protected him were somewhat bruised and belabored before they could convey him out of the church.  Nothing more, however, transpired that day, and the keepers of the cathedral were enabled to expel the crowd and to close the doors for the night.

Information of this tumult was brought to the senate, then assembled in the Hotel de Ville.  That body was thrown into a state of great perturbation.  In losing the Prince of Orange, they seemed to have lost their own brains, and the first measure which they took was to despatch a messenger to implore his return.  In the mean time, it was necessary that they should do something for themselves.  It was evident that a storm was brewing.  The pest which was sweeping so rapidly through the provinces would soon be among them.  Symptoms of the dreaded visitation were already but too manifest.  What precaution should:  they take?  Should they issue a proclamation?  Such documents had been too common of late, and had lost their virtue.  It was the time not to assert but to exercise authority.  Should they summon the ward-masters, and order the instant arming and mustering of their respective companies?  Should they assemble the captains of the Military associations?  Nothing better could have been desired than such measures in cases of invasion or of ordinary tumult, but who should say how deeply the poison had sunk into the body politic; who should say with how much or how little alacrity the burgher militia would obey the mandates of the magistracy?  It would be better to issue no proclamation unless they could enforce its provisions; it would be better not to call out the citizen soldiery unless they were likely to prove obedient.  Should mercenary troops at this late hour be sent for?  Would not their appearance at this crisis rather inflame the rage than