We Flew As If With Wings

There is an eloquent statement about how the Camisards loved the psalms and how they inspired and refreshed their souls under the most severe persecutions. I have read it before in Robert Louis Stevenson's travelogue of the Cévennes, and two historical guides to the Psalter. But none of those writings cited the actual source of this quote, although they gave me clues to follow. Those interested in the Camisards or the psalms may find the path of my research to be of interest.

John Ker (1819-1886), The Psalms in History and Biography (1886, 2006 ed.), p. 96:

An old Camisard, as the hunted Protestants of the Cevennes were called, says, 'We flew when we heard the sound of the psalms, we flew as if with wings. We felt within us an animating ardour, a transporting desire. The feeling cannot be expressed in words. It is a thing that must have been felt to be known. However weary we might be, we thought no more of our fatigue, and grew light as soon as the psalms reached our ear.'

Rowland Prothero (1851-1937), The Psalms in Human Life (1903, 2008 ed.), pp. 165-166:

Upon [the] excited minds [of the Camisards] the Psalms exercised an almost supernatural power. "As soon," says Durand Fage, "as we began to sing the chant of the Divine Canticles, we felt within us a consuming fire, an ecstatic desire which no words can express. However great our fatigue, we thought of it no more. The moment the chant of the Psalms struck our ears, we grew light as air."

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879, 1897 ed.), p. 181:

'We flew,' says one old Camisard,' when we heard the sound of psalm-singing, we flew as if with wings. We felt within us an animating ardour, a transporting desire. The feeling cannot be expressed in words. It is a thing that must have been experienced to be understood. However weary we might be, we thought no more of our weariness and grew light, so soon as the psalms fell upon our ears.'

The Wikisource annotated edition of this work attributes the quote to "Les Pasteurs du Désert. N. Peyrat."

Napoléon Peyrat (1809-1881), Histoire des pasteurs du Désert: depuis la révocation de l'édit de Nantes jusqu'à la Révolution française, 1685 - 1789 (1842), Vol. 1, p. 271:

Nous volions, continue Durand Fage, nous volions, quand nous entendions le chant de ces divins cantiques; nous sentions audedans de nous une ardeur qui nous animait, un désir qui nous transportait : cela ne se peut exprimer. Quelque grande que fût quelquefois notre lassitude, nous n'y pensions plus, dès que le chant des psaumes frappait nos oreilles: nous devenions légers. C'est une de ces choses qu'il fautavoir éprouvées, pour les connaître.

A brief footnote by Peyrat lead me to François Maximilien Misson (c. 1650-1722), Le Théâtre sacré des Cévennes (1707), which was translated almost immediately into English by John Lacy (1664-?), an enthusiast who was also a wealthy member of the congregation pastored by Dr. Edmund Calamy the Historian, as A Cry from the Desert; or, Testimonials of the Miraculous Things Lately Come to Pass in the Cevennes, Verified Upon Oath, and By Other Proofs (1707). I found an 1847 French edition entitled Les prophètes protestants. Réimpression de l'ouvrage intitulé Le théatre sacré des Cévennes; ou, Récit des diverses merveilles nouvellement opérées dans cette partie de la province du Languedoc. Avec une préf. et des notes de A. Bost. The deposition of M. Durand Fage, given in London in January 1707, begins on p. 109. The particular quote in question is found on p. 113:

A cinq cents pas plus loin, la mélodie des psaumes nous attira. Nous volions quand nous entendions le chant de ces divins cantiques. Nous sentions au dedans de nous une ardeur qui nous animait, un désir qui uous trans-portait: cela ne se peut exprimer. Quelque grande que fût quelquefois notre lassitude, nous n'y pensions plus, dés le moment que le chant des psaumes frappait nos oreilles: nous devenions légers. C'est une de ces choses merveilleuses qu'il faut avoir éprouvées pour les connaître.

Of Durand Fage, a Camisard known to have been fighting Dragoons in 1702, submitted to French authorities in 1705, was escorted to the German frontier, traveled to Geneva and Holland before arriving in London in 1706, we know little. He was born in 1681 at Aubais, in Languedoc, but the date of his death, presumably in the mid-18th century, is unknown. His deposition is a vivid first-hand account of life among the Camisards, and we are thankful to have his testimony. Although he may have been an enthusiast, the quote that led me down this path bears witness to his piety and eloquence as well.