"The _callots_ pretended to be recently cured of the scurf, and to have just arrived from Sainte-Reine, where they had been miraculously delivered of their ailment. [Illustration: NEWSDEALER. PORTION OF THE "L'ALMANACH NATIONAL" OF 1791. Re-engraved by Pannemaker, after the original by Debucourt.] "The _hubains_ exhibited a certificate setting forth that, having been bitten by a mad dog, they had been cured by the intercession of Saint-Hubert. "The _saboleux_ were false epileptics who were enabled to simulate convulsions by means of a piece of soap placed between their lips, which made a froth. "The _coquillards_ represented pilgrims returning from Saint-Jacques or some other pilgrim shrine. "The _courtaux de boutange_, beggars in winter, shivered with cold under their rags. "The _drilles_, or _narquois_, begged in military uniform, and said that they had received wounds which prevented them from working. "The total number of these wretches had become so great, and their depredations in the city were so frequent, that it was resolved to use vigorous measures; in 1656, a veritable army of archers and of officers invaded the Cour des Miracles under the lead of several commissioners. The beggars and the truands endeavored to make their escape, but the quarter was surrounded. "Thieves, beggars, and vagabonds were all arrested; then a selection was made; some were released, and the others remained in prison or were sent to the hospitals.... "But under François I, and especially at the period when the chevalier king was expiating at Madrid the loss of the battle of Pavia, the Cour des Miracles was in all its splendor, and those who inhabited it were a sufficiently lively cause of anxiety to the _prévôt_ of the merchants and to the bishop-governor. "On the 22d of May, 1525, the Assemblée des Vingt adopted a resolution to arrest a certain number of fraudulent beggars who were strongly suspected of being marauders of the worst kind, but, having been notified in time, they decamped.... The enterprises of the vagabonds, the thieves, and the _mauvais garçons_ became more and more audacious; they had for chiefs three bandits, Esclaireau, Barbiton, and Jean de Mets, who spread such terror that the archers who were sent against them preferred to advise them to fly, through fear of being killed by them; however, the salt barges having been robbed on the 7th of June, near the Célestins, the _prévôt_ of the merchants sent the night-watch against them; they defended themselves with arquebuses, drove the watch back as far as the Port Saint-Landry, and all but killed the _prévôt_. "On the 14th, a troop of these rogues traversed the city, crying: '_Vive Bourgogne! À sac! à sac!_'