had  appeared  to  her  servant,  pilgrims  flocked  to  the  little
church,  which  soon  grew  rich  out  of  their  liberality.  Every
day  arrived  a  fresh  throng,  to  be  addressed  by  the  "Holy
Youth,"  as  they  called  the  piper,  to  carry  away  if  possible  some
fragment  of  his  dress  as  a  relic,  and  to  cast  into  the  bonfire
which  he  kindled  their  gauds  and  vanities.  The  whole  country
was  astir ;  everywhere  pilgrims  found  hospitality  among  those
who  were  moved  by  the  same  enthusiasm  as  themselves  ;  round
Mklashausen  itself  a  town  of  booths  and  huts  was  growing
up.  To  what  lengths  the  fanaticism  might  have  gone,  whether
the  Church  might  not  at  last  have  accepted  the  piper  as  a  saint
and  Niklashausen  as  a  sacred  shrine,  cannot  now  be  conjectured :
the  Bishop  of  Wiirzburg  sent  over  a  party  of  lanzknechts,  who
carried  away  Boheim  a  prisoner.  His  followers  were  greatly
moved,  and  to  the  number  of  many  thousands  beleaguered
Wiirzburg,  demanding  the  release  of  their  prophet.  But  there
was  no  solid  military  strength  in  this  undisciplined  crowd ;
a  single  charge  of  cavalry  dispersed  them  in  wild  confusion.
