soon as the paroxysm was over, receive immediate relief on the
attack of the tympany. This bandage was, by the insertion of a
stick, easily twisted tight: many, however, obtained more relief
from kicks and blows, which they found numbers of persons ready to
administer: for, wherever the dancers appeared, the people
assembled in crowds to gratify their curiosity with the frightful
spectacle. At length the increasing number of the affected
excited no less anxiety than the attention that was paid to them.
In towns and villages they took possession of the religious
houses, processions were everywhere instituted on their account,
and masses were said and hymns were sung, while the disease
itself, of the demoniacal origin of which no one entertained the
least doubt, excited everywhere astonishment and horror. In Liege
the priests had recourse to exorcisms, and endeavoured by every
means in their power to allay an evil which threatened so much
danger to themselves; for the possessed assembling in multitudes,
frequently poured forth imprecations against them, and menaced
their destruction. They intimidated the people also to such a
degree that there was an express ordinance issued that no one
should make any but square-toed shoes, because these fanatics had
manifested a morbid dislike to the pointed shoes which had come
into fashion immediately after the "Great Mortality" in 1350.
They were still more irritated at the sight of red colours, the
influence of which on the disordered nerves might lead us to
imagine an extraordinary accordance between this spasmodic malady
and the condition of infuriated animals; but in the St. John's
dancers this excitement was probably connected with apparitions
consequent upon their convulsions. There were likewise some of
them who were unable to endure the sight of persons weeping. The
clergy seemed to become daily more and more confirmed in their