But apostate priests were not the only preachers.  To the ineffable disgust of the conservatives in Church and State, there were men with little education, utterly devoid of Hebrew, of lowly station—­hatters, curriers, tanners, dyers, and the like, who began to preach also; remembering, unseasonably perhaps, that the early disciples, selected by the founder of Christianity, had not all been doctors of theology, with diplomas from a “renowned university.”  But if the nature of such men were subdued to what it worked in, that charge could not be brought against ministers with the learning and accomplishments of Ambrose Wille, Marnier, Guy de Bray, or Francis Junius, the man whom Scaliger called the “greatest of all theologians since the days of the apostles.”  An aristocratic sarcasm could not be levelled against Peregrine de la Grange, of a noble family in Provence, with the fiery blood of southern France in his veins, brave as his nation, learned, eloquent, enthusiastic, who galloped to his field-preaching on horseback, and fired a pistol-shot as a signal for his congregation to give attention.

On the 28th of June, 1566, at eleven o’clock at night, there was an assemblage of six thousand people near Tournay, at the bridge of Ernonville, to hear a sermon from Ambrose Wille, a man who had studied theology in Geneva, at the feet of Calvin, and who now, with a special price upon his head,—­was preaching the doctrines he had learned.  Two days afterwards, ten thousand people assembled at the same spot, to hear Peregrine de la Grange.  Governor Moulbais thundered forth a proclamation from the citadel, warning all men that the edicts were as rigorous as ever, and that every man, woman, or child who went to these preachings, was incurring the penalty of death.  The people became only the more ardent and excited.  Upon Sunday, the seventh of July; twenty thousand persons assembled at the same bridge to hear Ambrose Wille.  One man in three was armed.  Some had arquebuses, others pistols, pikes, swords, pitchforks, poniards, clubs.  The preacher, for whose apprehension a fresh reward had been offered, was escorted to his pulpit by a hundred mounted troopers.  He begged his audience not to be scared from the word of God by menace; assured them that although but a poor preacher himself, he held a divine commission; that he had no fear of death; that, should he fall, there were many better than he to supply his place, and fifty thousand men to avenge his murder.

The Duchess sent forth proclamations by hundreds.  She ordered the instant suppression of these armed assemblies and the arrest of the preachers.  But of what avail were proclamations against such numbers with weapons in their hands.  Why irritate to madness these hordes of enthusiasts, who were now entirely pacific, and who marched back to the city, after conclusion of divine service, with perfect decorum?  All classes of the population went eagerly to the sermons.  The gentry of the place, the rich merchants,