The Convulsionaries did not form a homogeneous body; as was to be expected, they were split into parties, bearing various appellations, and being, in some instances, hostile to each other. There were the Vaillantistes, the Augustinians, the Melangistes, the Margoullistes, the Figuristes, and many more. The Vaillantistes took their name from Peter Vaillant, a priest, who taught that the prophet Elijah was resuscitated, and that he would appear on earth, to convert the Jews and the court of Rome. His disciple, Housset, maintained that Vaillant himself was the prophet. Darnaud, another priest, boldly assumed the character of the prophet Enoch. The Augustinians, who carried their fanaticism to such a pitch that they were looked upon as heretical by other convulsionary sects, were the followers of a friar of the name of Augustin. Among their peculiar follies, was that of making nocturnal processions, with torches in their hands, and halters round their necks, to Nôtre Dame, and thence to the place de Grêve; these processions were a sort of rehearsal of the tragic scene in which they expected they should ultimately be called upon to perform. The Melangistes were those who distinguished two causes producing convulsions; one which gave rise to useless or improper acts, another which inspired divine and supernatural acts. The tenets of the Margoullistes have not been handed down to us. The Figuristes were so called from their representing, in their convulsive paroxysms, various phases of the passion of Christ, and the martyrdom of the saints. The fierce enthusiasm of all these sectarians has never been exceeded. Like American Indians, they set at defiance the utmost severity of pain. Even slight stimulus would rouse them into violent action. “I have seen them,” says Voltaire, “when they were talking of the miracles of St. Paris, grow heated by degrees, till their whole frame trembled, their faces were disfigured by rage, and they would have killed whoever dared to contradict them. Yes, I have seen them writhe their limbs, and foam, and cry out ‘There must be blood!’” Not the slightest concession would they make to avoid punishment. A pardon was offered to several of them, who were sentenced to the pillory; they refused it, for they could not, they said, repent of having done right. No lapse of time could eradicate this feeling from their minds. In 1775, when M. de Malesherbes visited the Concièrgerie, he found there a male and a female convulsionary, who had been imprisoned for forty-one years. Age had not chilled in them the resentment which was excited by their wrongs. He offered them liberty, if they would only ask for it; but they firmly replied, that they had been unjustly detained, and that it was the business of justice to atone for its errors, and to give the reparation to which they were entitled. They were released.