at every place where the ordinary publications were made. After a roll of the drum, Master Littlejohn blew a horn and cried with his squeaking voice: ‘O yes, this is to give notice that whoever wishes to buy the skin of a beast, of the _grossest_ ass in Geneva, and will call at the house situate between the keeper’s and the Hôtel de Ville, it will be sold to the highest bidder.’ ‘Is not that where Judge _Gros_ lives?’ asked a bystander. ‘Yes, it’s he that is the _gross_ ass,’ replied another. A general burst of laughter followed this proclamation. Andrew Navis in particular indulged in the most noisy demonstrations; he was bent on showing that he was as good a patriot as the rest. The oldest of the patriots were however uneasy: the elder Lévrier thought they were going too fast. ‘Ah,’ said he, ‘these young folks will play us a pretty game!’ ‘Certes,’ added others spitefully, ‘this Berthelier has a singular talent for stirring up quarrels.’[102] The joke was continued through great part of the night. The next day the judge of the three castles hastened to lay his complaint before the vidame and the episcopal council. The vidame called for the arrest of the guilty parties, who disappeared. Being summoned by sound of trumpet to appear at the Château de l’Ile under pain of being fined a hundred crowns, they came out of their hiding-places, and Berthelier brought an action against the vidame for having threatened him and his friends with a fine that was not authorised by the law. The partisans of Savoy were still more exasperated. ‘There is a conspiracy against my lord the bishop-prince of Geneva,’ they exclaimed; ‘he alone has the right of making proclamations.’ They wrote letter after letter to Turin, and metamorphosed a fool’s jest into the crime of high treason.[103]