Lucas Pommoreux,—abhorred forever be his name!—who for three years had supplied "all the cats needed for the fire on Saint John's day." "To toss a few cats into the flames on the festival of Saint John was considered an encouragement to morality," observes M. de Méril; and an old French song celebrates with pitiless gayety the fate
"D'un chat qui, d'une course breve,
Monta au feu Saint Jean de Grève."
The custom continued in force, losing none of its popularity, until 1604, when the gracious child, afterwards Louis the Thirteenth, interceded at court for the lives of these poor animals, and obtained from Henry the Fourth an edict which ended the barbarous sport.
What incited the villagers of France to build these sacrificial fires was the widespread belief that all cats attended the great Witches' Sabbath on Saint John's Eve. Fontenelle told Moncrif—that courtly chronicler of high-born pussies—that, when he was a little boy, not even a kitten was to be seen on this night of mystery. The whole feline population was abroad—or so he conceived—intent on deeds of mischief. In Picardy the burning of cats took place on the first Sunday of Lent, and was part of the "Bihourdi," a festival so old that nobody is sure of its origin. Lanterns and torches were carried through the village streets, bonfires
