Page:The Rebellion in the Cevennes (Volume 1).djvu/277

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thusiastic men, who never enquire how numerous the foe may be, rush with songs of praise upon the bayonet, and into the flames of the stake; they would follow no foreign leader, who did not share with them the same faith, and the same distress, for as I have already said, it is not their wish to be rioters and rebels, and thus follow a foreign standard, though with greater safety. They fight and conquer only under their own known country-people, who pray and sing with them, whose origin they know, and whose prophecies impel them to rush fearlessly into the most palpable danger."

"They laugh at those prophets in foreign countries," said Flotard, "What is your opinion of them?" "I know not what to say to it," answered Roland; "I frequently see the miracle before my eyes, that these men know things which no one can learn by natural means; but again it often strikes me, that blind passion alone speaks out of them, and that they voluntarily