CHAPTER VII

THE GLORIOUS RETURN:

AN EPISODE IN THE HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN VAUDOIS.

What is known as The Glorious Return, or re-entry of the exiled Vaudois in 1689 to resume possession of the valleys from which they had been banished, will always stand out as one of the most remarkable events in history.

If ever a people fairly established their right to live in their own country, and to worship God after their own methods, the Vaudois had surely done so. They had held conscientiously and consistently to their religion for nearly five hundred years, during which they laboured under many disabilities and suffered much persecution. But the successive Dukes of Savoy were no better satisfied with them as subjects than before. They could not brook that any part of their people should be of a different form of religion from that professed by themselves; and they continued, at the instance of successive popes, to let slip the dogs of war upon the valleys, in the hopes of eventually compelling the Vaudois to "come in" and make their peace with the Church.

The result of these invasions was almost uniform. At the first sudden inroad of the troops, the people, taken by surprise, usually took to flight; on which their dwellings were burnt and their fields laid waste. But when they had time to rally and collect their forces, the almost invariable result was that the Piedmontese were driven out of the valleys again with ignominy and loss. The Duke's invasion of 1655 was, however, attended with greater success than usual. His armies occupied the greater part of the valleys, though the Vaudois still held out, and made occasional successful sallies from their mountain fastnesses. At length, the Protestants of the Swiss Confederation, taking compassion on their co-religionists in Piedmont, sent ambassadors to the Duke of Savoy at Turin to intercede for their relief; and the result was the amnesty granted to them in that year under the title of the "Patents of Grace." The terms were very hard, but they were agreed to. The Vaudois were to be permitted to re-occupy their valleys, conditional on their rebuilding all the Catholic churches which had been destroyed, paying to the Duke an indemnity of fifty thousand francs, and ceding to him the richest lands in the valley of Luzerna—the last relics of their fortunes being thus taken from them to remunerate the barbarity of their persecutors.

It was also stipulated by this treaty, that the pastors of the Vaudois churches were to be natives of the district only, and that they were to be at liberty to administer religious instruction in their own manner in all the Vaudois parishes, excepting that of St. John, near La Tour, where their worship was interdicted. The only persons excepted from the terms of the amnesty were Javanel, the heroic old captain, and Jean Leger, the pastor-historian, the most prominent leaders of the Vaudois in the recent war, both of whom were declared to be banished the ducal dominions.

Under this treaty the Vaudois enjoyed peace for about thirty years, during which they restored the cultivation of the valleys, rebuilt the villages, and were acknowledged to be among the most loyal, peaceable, and industrious of the subjects of Savoy.

There were, however, certain parts of the valleys to which the amnesty granted by the Duke did not apply. Thus, it did not apply to the valleys of Pérouse and Pragela, which did not then form part of the dominions of Savoy, but were included within the French frontier. It was out of this circumstance that a difficulty arose with the French monarch, which issued in the revival of the persecution in the valleys, the banishment of the Vaudois into Switzerland, and their eventual "Glorious Return" in the manner we are about briefly to narrate.

When Louis XIV. of France revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685, and interdicted all Protestant worship throughout his dominions, the law of course applied to the valleys of Pérouse and Pragela as to the other parts of France. The Vaudois pastors were banished, and the people were forbidden to profess any other religion than that prescribed by the King, under penalty of confiscation of their goods, imprisonment, or banishment. The Vaudois who desired to avoid these penalties while they still remained staunch to their faith, did what so many Frenchmen then did—they fled across the frontier and took refuge in foreign lands. Some of the inhabitants of the French valleys went northward into Switzerland, while others passed across the mountains towards the south, and took refuge in the valley of the Pelice, where the Vaudois religion continued to be tolerated under the terms of the amnesty above referred to, which had been granted by the Duke of Savoy.

The French king, when he found his Huguenot subjects flying in all directions rather than remain in France and be "converted" to Roman Catholicism, next tried to block up the various avenues of escape, and to prevent the rulers of the adjoining countries from giving the fugitives asylum. Great was his displeasure when he heard of the flight of the Vaudois of Pérouse and Pragela into the adjoining valleys. He directed the French ambassador at Turin to call upon the Duke of Savoy, and require him to prevent their settlement within his dominions. At the same time, he called upon the Duke to take steps to compel the conversion of his people from the pretended reformed faith, and offered the aid of his troops to enforce their submission, "at whatever cost."

The Duke was irritated at the manner in which he was approached. Louis XIV. was treating him as a vassal of France rather than as an independent sovereign. But he felt himself to be weak, and comparatively powerless to resent the insult. So he first temporised, then vacillated, and being again pressed by the French king, he eventually yielded. The amnesty was declared to be at an end, and the Vaudois were ordered forthwith to become members of the Church of Rome. An edict was issued on the 31st of January, 1686, forbidding the exercise by the Vaudois of their religion, abolishing their ancient privileges, and ordering the demolition of all their places of worship. Pastors and schoolmasters who refused to be converted were ordered to quit the country within fifteen days, on pain of death and confiscation of their goods. All refugee Protestants from France were ordered to leave under the same penalty. All children born of Protestant parents were to be compulsorily educated as Roman Catholics. This barbarous measure was merely a repetition by the Duke of Savoy in Piedmont of what his master Louis XIV. had already done in France.

The Vaudois expostulated with their sovereign, but in vain. They petitioned, but there was no reply. They requested the interposition of the Swiss Government as before, but the Duke took no notice of their memorial. The question of resistance was then discussed; but the people were without leaders. Javanel was living in banishment at Geneva—old and worn out, and unable to lead them. Besides, the Vaudois, before taking up arms, wished to exhaust every means of conciliation. Ambassadors next came from Switzerland, who urged them to submit to the clemency of the Duke, and suggested that they should petition him for permission to leave the country! The Vaudois were stupefied by the proposal. They were thus asked, without a contest, to submit to all the ignominy and punishment of defeat, and to terminate their very existence as a people! The ambassadors represented that resistance to the combined armies of Savoy, France, and Spain, without leaders, and with less than three thousand combatants, was little short of madness.

Nevertheless, a number of the Vaudois determined not to leave their valleys without an attempt to hold them, as they had so often successfully done before. The united armies of France and Savoy then advanced upon the valleys, and arrangements were made for a general attack upon the Vaudois position on Easter Monday, 1686, at break of day,—the Duke of Savoy assailing the valley of Luzerna, while Catinat, commander of the French troops, advanced on St. Martin. Catinat made the first attack on the village of St. Germain, and was beaten back with heavy loss after six hours' fighting. Henry Arnaud, the Huguenot pastor from Die in Dauphiny, of which he was a native, particularly distinguished himself by his bravery in this affair, and from that time began to be regarded as one of the most promising of the Vaudois leaders.

Catinat renewed the attack on the following day with the assistance of fresh troops; and he eventually succeeded in overcoming the resistance of the handful of men who opposed him, and sweeping the valley of St. Martin. Men, women, and children were indiscriminately put to the sword. In some of the parishes no resistance was offered, the inhabitants submitting to the Duke's proclamation; but whether they submitted or not, made no difference in their treatment, which was barbarous in all cases.

Meanwhile, the Duke of Savoy's army advanced from the vale of Luzerna upon the celebrated heights of Angrogna, and assailed the Vaudois assembled there at all points. The resistance lasted for an entire day, and when night fell, both forces slept on the ground upon which they had fought, kindling their bivouac fires on both sides. On the following day the attack was renewed, and again the battle raged until night. Then Don Gabriel of Savoy, who was in command, resolved to employ the means which Catinat had found so successful: he sent forward messengers to inform the Vaudois that their brethren of the Val St. Martin had laid down their arms and been pardoned, inviting them to follow their example. The result of further parley was, that on the express promise of his Royal Highness that they should receive pardon, and that neither their persons nor those of their wives or children should be touched, the credulous Vaudois, still hoping for fair treatment, laid down their arms, and permitted the ducal troops to take possession of their entrenchments!

The same treacherous strategy proved equally successful against the defenders of the Pra du Tour. After beating back their assailants and firmly holding their ground for an entire day, they were told of the surrender of their compatriots, promised a full pardon, and assured of life and liberty, on condition of immediately ceasing further hostilities. They accordingly consented to lay down their arms, and the impregnable fastness of the Pra du Tour, which had never been taken by force, thus fell before falsehood and perfidy. "The defenders of this ancient sanctuary of the Church," says Dr. Huston, "were loaded with irons; their children were carried off and scattered through the Roman Catholic districts; their wives and daughters were violated, massacred, or made captives. As for those that still remained, all whom the enemy could seize became a prey devoted to carnage, spoliation, fire, excesses which cannot be told, and outrages which it would be impossible to describe."

"All the valleys are now exterminated," wrote a French officer to his friends; "the people are all killed, hanged, or massacred." The Duke, Victor Amadeus, issued a decree, declaring the Vaudois to be guilty of high treason, and confiscating all their property. Arnaud says as many as eleven thousand persons were killed, or perished in prison, or died of want, in consequence of this horrible Easter festival of blood. Six thousand were taken prisoners, and the greater number of these died in gaol of hunger and disease. When the prisons were opened, and the wretched survivors were ordered to quit the country, forbidden to return to it on pain of death, only about two thousand six hundred contrived to struggle across the frontier into Switzerland.

And thus at last the Vaudois Church seemed utterly uprooted and destroyed. What the Dukes of Savoy had so often attempted in vain was now accomplished. A second St. Bartholomew had been achieved, and Rome rang with Te Deums in praise of the final dispersion of the Vaudois. The Pope sent to Victor Amadeus II. a special brief, congratulating him on the extirpation of heresy in his dominions; and Piedmontese and Savoyards, good Catholics, were presented with the lands from which the Vaudois had been driven. Those of them who remained in the country "unconverted" were as so many scattered fugitives in the mountains—sheep wandering about without a shepherd. Some of the Vaudois, for the sake of their families and homes, pretended conversion; but these are admitted to have been comparatively few in number. In short, the "Israel of the Alps" seemed to be no more, and its people utterly and for ever dispersed. Pierre Allix, the Huguenot refugee pastor in England, in his "History of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont," dedicated to William III., regarded the Vaudois Church as obliterated—"their present desolation seeming so universal, that the world looks upon them no otherwise than as irrecoverably lost, and finally destroyed."

Three years passed. The expelled Vaudois reached Switzerland in greatly reduced numbers, many women and children having perished on their mountain journey. The inhabitants of Geneva received them with great hospitality, clothing and feeding them until they were able to proceed on their way northward. Some went into Brandenburg, some into Holland, while others settled to various branches of industry in different parts of Switzerland. Many of them, however, experienced great difficulty in obtaining a settlement. Those who had entered the Palatinate were driven thence by war, and those who had entered Wurtemburg were expelled by the Grand Duke, who feared incurring the ire of Louis XIV. by giving them shelter and protection. Hence many little bands of the Vaudois refugees long continued to wander along the valley of the Rhine, unable to find rest for their weary feet. There were others trying to earn, a precarious living in Geneva and Lausanne, and along the shores of Lake Leman. Some of these were men who had fought under Javanel in his heroic combats with the Piedmontese; and they thought with bitter grief of the manner in which they had fallen into the trap of Catinat and the Duke of Savoy, and abandoned their country almost without a struggle.

Then it was that the thought occurred to them whether they might not yet strike a blow for the recovery of their valleys! The idea seemed chimerical in the extreme. A few hundred destitute men, however valiant, to think of recovering a country defended by the combined armies of France and Savoy! Javanel, the old Vaudois hero, disabled by age and wounds, was still alive—an exile at Geneva—and he was consulted on the subject. Javanel embraced the project with, enthusiasm; and the invasion of the valleys was resolved upon! A more daring, and apparently more desperate enterprise, was never planned.

Who was to be their leader? Javanel himself was disabled. Though his mind was clear, and his patriotic ardour unquenched, his body was weak; and all that he could do was to encourage and advise. But he found a noble substitute in Henry Arnaud, the Huguenot refugee, who had already distinguished himself in his resistance to the troops of Savoy. And Arnaud was now ready to offer up his life for the recovery of the valleys.

The enterprise was kept as secret as possible, yet not so close as to prevent the authorities of Berne obtaining some inkling of their intentions. Three confidential messengers were first dispatched to the valleys to ascertain the disposition of the population, and more particularly to examine the best route by which an invasion might be made. On their return with the necessary information, the plan was settled by Javanel, as it was to be carried out by Arnaud. In the meantime, the magistrates of Geneva, having obtained information as to the intended movement, desirous of averting the hostility of France and Savoy, required Javanel to leave their city, and he at once retired to Ouchy, a little farther up the lake.

The greatest difficulty experienced by the Vaudois in carrying out their enterprise was the want of means. They were poor, destitute refugees, without arms, ammunition, or money to buy them. To obtain the requisite means, Arnaud made a journey into Holland, for the purpose of communicating the intended project to William of Orange. William entered cordially into the proposed plan, recommended Arnaud to several Huguenot officers, who afterwards took part in the expedition, supplied him with assistance in money, and encouraged him to carry out the design. Several private persons in Holland—amongst others the post-master-general at Leyden—also largely contributed to the enterprise.

At length all was ready. The men who intended to take part in the expedition came together from various quarters. Some came from Brandenburg, others from Bavaria and distant parts of Switzerland; and among those who joined them was a body of French Huguenots, willing to share in their dangers and their glory. One of their number, Captain Turrel, like Arnaud, a native of Die in Dauphiny, was even elected as the general of the expedition. Their rendez-vous was in the forest of Prangins, near Nyon, on the north bank of the Lake of Geneva; and there, on the night of the 16th of August, 1689, they met in the hollow recesses of the wood. Fifteen boats had been got together, and lay off the shore. After a fervent prayer by the pastor-general Arnaud, imploring a blessing upon the enterprise, as many of the men as could embark got into the boats. As the lake is there at its narrowest, they soon rowed across to the other side, near the town of Yvoire, and disembarked on the shore of Savoy. Arnaud had posted sentinels in all directions, and the little body waited the arrival of the remainder of their comrades from the opposite shore. They had all crossed the lake by two o'clock in the morning; and about eight hundred men, divided into nineteen companies, each provided with its captain, were now ready to march.

At the very commencement, however, they met with a misfortune. One of the pastors, having gone to seek a guide in the village near at hand, was seized as a prisoner by the local authorities, and carried off. On this, the Vaudois, seeing that they were treated as enemies, sent a party to summon Yvoire to open its gates, and it obeyed. The lord of the manor and the receiver of taxes were taken as hostages, and made to accompany the troop until they reached the next commune, when they were set at liberty, and replaced by other hostages.

When it became known that the little army of Vaudois had set out on their march, troops were dispatched from all quarters to intercept them and cut them off; and it was believed that their destruction was inevitable. "What possible chance is there," asked the Historic Mercury of the day, "of this small body of men penetrating to their native country through the masses of French and Piedmontese troops accumulating from all sides, without being crushed and exterminated?" "It is impossible," wrote the Leyden Gazette, "notwithstanding whatever precautions they may take, that the Vaudois can extricate themselves without certain death, and the Court of Savoy may therefore regard itself safe so far as they are concerned."

No sooner had the boats left the shore at Nyon for the further side of the lake than the young seigneur of Prangins, who had been watching their movements, rode off at full speed to inform the French resident at Geneva of the departure of the Vaudois; and orders were at once dispatched to Lyons for a strong body of cavalry to march immediately towards Savoy to cut them off. But the Vaudois had well matured their plans, and took care to keep out of reach of the advancing enemy. Their route at first lay up the valleys towards the mountains, whose crests they followed, from glacier to glacier, in places almost inaccessible to regular troops, and thus they eluded the combined forces of France and Savoy, which, vainly endeavoured to bar their passage.

The first day's march led them into the valley of the Arve, by the Col de Voirons, from which they took their last view of the peaceful Lake of Geneva; thence they proceeded by the pyramidal mountain called the Mole to the little town of Viu, where they rested for two hours, starting again by moonlight, and passing through St. Joire, where the magistrates brought out a great cask of wine, and placed it in the middle of the street for their refreshment. The little army, however, did not halt there, but marched on to the bare hill of Carman, where, after solemn prayer, they encamped about midnight, sleeping on the bare ground. Next day found them in front of the small walled town of Cluse, in the rocky gorge of the Arve. The authorities shut the gates, on which the Vaudois threatened to storm the place, when the gates were opened, and they marched through the town, the inhabitants standing under arms along both sides of the street. Here the Vaudois purchased a store of food and wine, which they duly paid for.

They then proceeded on to Sallanches, where resistance was threatened. They found a body of men posted on the wooden bridge which there separated the village of St. Martin from Sallanches; but rushing forward, the defenders of the bridge fled, and the little army passed over and proceeded to range themselves in order of battle over against the town, which was defended by six hundred troops. The Vaudois having threatened to burn the town, and kill the hostages whom they had taken on the slightest show of resistance, the threat had its effect, and they were permitted to pass without further opposition, encamping for the night at a little village about a league further on. And thus closed the second day's march.

The third day they passed over the mountains of Lez Pras and Haute Luce, seven thousand feet above the sea-level, a long and fatiguing march. At one place the guide lost his way, and rain fell heavily, soaking the men to the skin. They spent a wretched night in some empty stables at the hamlet of St. Nicholas de Verose; and started earlier than usual on the following morning, addressing themselves to the formidable work of climbing the Col Bonhomme, which they passed with the snow up to their knees. They were now upon the crest of the Alps, looking down upon the valley of the Isère, into which they next descended. They traversed the valley without resistance, passing through St. Germain and Scez, turning aside at the last-mentioned place up the valley of Tignes, thereby avoiding the French troops lying in wait for them in the neighbourhood of Moutiers, lower down the valley of the Isère. Later in the evening they reached Laval, at the foot of Mont Iseran; and here Arnaud, for the first time during eight days, snatched a few hours' sleep on a bed in the village.

The sixth day saw the little army climbing the steep slopes of Mont Iseran, where the shepherds gave them milk and wished them God-speed; but they warned them that a body of troops lay in their way at Mont Cenis. On they went—over the mountain, and along the crest of the chain, until they saw Bonneval in the valley beneath them, and there they descended, passing on to Bessant in the valley of the Arc, where they encamped for the night.

Next day they marched on Mont Cenis, which they ascended. As they were crossing the mountain a strange incident occurred. The Vaudois saw before them a large convoy of mules loaded with baggage. And shortly after there came up the carriage and equipage of some grand personage. It proved to be Cardinal Ranuzzi, on his way to Rome to take part in the election of Pope Alexander VIII. The Vaudois seized the mules carrying the baggage, which contained important documents compromising Louis XIV. with Victor Amadeus; and it is said that in consequence of their loss, the Cardinal, who himself aspired to the tiara, afterwards died of chagrin, crying in his last moments, "My papers! oh, my papers!"

The passage of the Great and Little Cenis was effected with great difficulty. The snow lay thick on the ground, though it was the month of August, and the travellers descended the mountain of Tourliers by a precipice rather than a road. When night fell, they were still scattered on the mountain, and lay down to snatch a brief sleep, overcome with hunger and fatigue. Next morning they gathered together again, and descended into the sterile valley of the Gaillon, and shortly after proceeded to ascend the mountain opposite.

They were now close upon the large towns. Susa lay a little to the east, and Exilles was directly in their way. The garrison of the latter place came out to meet them, and from the crest of the mountain rolled large stones and flung grenades down upon the invaders. Here the Vaudois lost some men and prisoners, and finding the further ascent impracticable, they retreated into the valley from which they had come, and again ascended the steep slope of Tourliers in order to turn the heights on which the French troops were posted. At last, after great fatigue and peril, unable to proceed further, they gained the crest of the mountain, and sounded their clarions to summon the scattered body.

After a halt of two hours they proceeded along the ridge, and perceived through the mist a body of soldiers marching along with drums beating; it was the garrison of Exilles. The Vaudois were recognised and followed by the soldiers at a distance. Proceeding a little further, they came in sight of the long valley of the Doire, and looking down into it, not far from the bridge of Salabertrans, they discerned some thirty-six bivouac fires burning on the plain, indicating the presence of a large force. These were their enemies—a well-appointed army of some two thousand five hundred men—whom they were at last to meet in battle. Nothing discouraged, they descended into the valley, and the advanced guard shortly came in contact with the enemy's outposts. Firing between them went on for an hour and a half, and then night fell.

The Vaudois leaders held a council to determine what they should do; and the result was, that an immediate attack was resolved upon, in three bodies. The principal attack was made on the bridge, the passage of which was defended by a strong body of French soldiers, under the command of Colonel de Larrey. On the advance of the Vaudois in the darkness, they were summoned to stand, but continued to advance, when the enemy fired a volley on them, killing three men. Then the Vaudois brigade rushed to the bridge, but seeing a strong body on the other side preparing to fire again, Arnaud called upon his men to lie down, and the volley went over their heads. Then Turrel, the Vaudois captain, calling out "Forward! the bridge is won!" the Vaudois jumped to their feet and rushed on. The two wings at the same time concentrated their fire on the defenders, who broke and retired, and the bridge was won. But at the further side, where the French were in overpowering numbers, they refused to give way, and poured down their fire on their assailants. The Vaudois boldly pressed on. They burst through the French, force, cutting it in two; and fresh men pouring over, the battle was soon won. The French, commander was especially chagrined at having been beaten by a parcel of cowherds. "Is it possible," he exclaimed, "that I have lost both the battle and my honour?"

The rising moon showed the ground strewed with about seven hundred dead; the Vaudois having lost only twenty-two killed and eight wounded. The victors filled their pouches with ammunition picked up on the field, took possession of as many arms and as much provisions as they could carry, and placing the remainder in a heap over some barrels of powder, they affixed a lighted match and withdrew. A tremendous explosion shook the mountains, and echoed along the valley, and the remains of the French camp were blown to atoms. The Vaudois then proceeded at once to climb the mountain of Sci, which had to be crossed in order to enter the valley of Pragelas.

It was early on a Sabbath morning, the ninth day of their march, that the Vaudois reached the crest of the mountain overlooking Fenestrelles, and saw spread out before them the beloved country which they had come to win. They halted for the stragglers, and when these had come up, Arnaud made them kneel down and thank God for permitting them again to see their native land; himself offering up an eloquent prayer, which cheered and strengthened them for further effort. And then they descended into the valley of Pragelas, passing the river Clusone, and halting to rest at the little village of La Traverse. They were now close to the Vaudois strongholds, and in a country every foot of which was familiar to most of them. But their danger was by no means over; for the valleys were swarming with dragoons and foot-soldiers; and when they had shaken off those of France, they had still to encounter the troops of Savoy.

Late in the afternoon the little army again set out for the valley of St. Martin, passing the night in the mountain hamlet of Jussand, the highest on the Col du Pis. Next day they descended the Col near Seras, and first came in contact with the troops of Savoy; but these having taken to flight, no collision occurred; and on the following day the Vaudois arrived, without further molestation, at the famous Balsille.

This celebrated stronghold is situated in front of the narrow defile of Macel, which leads into the valley of St. Martin. It is a rampart of rock, standing at the entrance to the pass, and is of such natural strength, that but little art was needed to make it secure against any force that could be brought against it. There is only one approach to it from the valley of St. Martin, which is very difficult; a portion of the way being in a deep wooded gorge, where a few men could easily arrest the progress of an army. The rock itself consists of three natural stages or terraces, the highest part rising steep as a wall, being surmounted by a natural platform. The mountain was well supplied with water, which gushed forth in several places. Caverns had been hollowed out in the sides of the rocks, which served as hiding-places during the persecutions which so often ravaged the valleys; and these were now available for storehouses and barracks.

The place was, indeed, so intimately identified with the past sufferings and triumphs of the Vaudois, and it was, besides, so centrally situated, and so secure, that they came to regard its possession as essential to the success of their enterprise. The aged Javanel, who drew up the plan of the invasion before the eight hundred set out on their march, attached the greatest importance to its early occupation. "Spare no labour nor pains," he said, in the memorandum of directions which he drew up, "in fortifying this post, which will be your most secure fortress. Do not quit it unless in the utmost extremity.... You will, of course, be told that you cannot hold it always, and that rather than not succeed in their object, all France and Italy will gather together against you.... But were it the whole world, and only yourselves against all, fear ye the Almighty alone, who is your protection."

On the arrival of the Vaudois at the Balsille, they discerned a small body of troops advancing towards them by the Col du Pis, higher up the valley. They proved to be Piedmontese, forty-six in number, sent to occupy the pass. They were surrounded, disarmed, and put to death, and their arms were hid away amongst the rocks. No quarter was given on either side during this war; the Vaudois had no prisons in which to place their captives; and they themselves, when taken, were treated not as soldiers, but as bandits, being instantly hung on the nearest trees. The Vaudois did not, however, yet take up their permanent position at the Balsille, being desirous of rousing the valleys towards the south. The day following, accordingly, they marched to Pralis, in the valley of the Germanasca, when, for the first time since their exile, they celebrated Divine worship in one of the temples of their ancestors.

They were now on their way towards the valley of the Pelice, to reach which it was necessary that they should pass over the Col Julian. An army of three thousand Piedmontese barred their way, but nothing daunted by the great disparity of force, the Vaudois, divided into three bodies, as at Salabertrans, mounted to the assault. As they advanced, the Piedmontese cried, "Come on, ye devil's Barbets, there are more than three thousand of us, and we occupy all the posts!" In less than half an hour the whole of the posts were carried, the pass was cleared, and the Piedmontese fled down the further side of the mountain, leaving all their stores behind them. On the following day the Vaudois reached Bobi, drove out the new settlers, and resumed possession of the lands of the commune. Thus, after the lapse of only fourteen days, this little band of heroes had marched from the shores of the Lake of Geneva, by difficult mountain-passes, through bands of hostile troops, which they had defeated in two severe fights, and at length reached the very centre of the Vaudois valleys, and entered into possession of the "Promised Land."

They resolved to celebrate their return to the country of their fathers by an act of solemn worship on the Sabbath following. The whole body assembled on the hill of Silaoud, commanding an extensive prospect of the valley, and with their arms piled, and resting under the shade of the chestnut-trees which crown the hill, they listened to an eloquent sermon from the pastor Montoux, who preached to them standing on a platform, consisting of a door resting upon two rocks, after which they chanted the 74th Psalm, to the clash of arms. They then proceeded to enter into a solemn covenant with each other, renewing the ancient oath of union of the valleys, and swearing never to rest from their enterprise, even if they should be reduced to only three or four in number, until they had "re-established in the valleys the kingdom of the Gospel." Shortly after, they proceeded to divide themselves into two bodies, for the purpose of occupying simultaneously, as recommended by Javanel, the two valleys of the Pelice and St. Martin.

But the trials and sufferings they had already endured were as nothing compared with those they were now about to experience. Armies concentrated on them from all points. They were pressed by the French on the north and west, and by the Piedmontese on the south and east. Encouraged by their success at Bobi, the Vaudois rashly attacked Villar, lower down the valley, and were repulsed with loss. From thence they retired up the valley of Rora, and laid it waste; the enemy, in like manner, destroying the town of Bobi and laying waste the neighbourhood.

The war now became one of reprisals and mutual devastation, the two parties seeking to deprive each other of shelter and the means of subsistence. The Vaudois could only obtain food by capturing the enemy's convoys, levying contributions from the plains, and making incursions into Dauphiny. The enterprise on which they had entered seemed to become more hopeless from day to day. This handful of men, half famished and clothed in rags, had now arrayed against them twenty-two thousand French and Sardinians, provided with all the munitions of war. That they should have been able to stand against them for two whole months, now fighting in one place, and perhaps the next day some twenty miles across the mountains in another, with almost invariable success, seems little short of a miracle. But flesh and blood could not endure such toil and privations much longer. No wonder that the faint-hearted began to despair. Turrel, the military commander, seeing no chance of a prosperous issue, withdrew across the French frontier, followed by the greater number of the Vaudois from Dauphiny; and there remained only the Italian Vaudois, still unconquered in spirit, under the leadership of their pastor-general Arnaud, who never appeared greater than in times of difficulty and danger.

With his diminished forces, and the increasing numbers of the enemy, Arnaud found it impossible to hold both the valleys, as intended; besides, winter was approaching, and the men must think of shelter and provisions during that season, if resistance was to be prolonged. It was accordingly determined to concentrate their little force upon the Balsille, and all haste was made to reach that stronghold without further delay. Their knowledge of the mountain heights and passes enabled them to evade their enemies, who were watching for them along the valleys, and they passed from the heights of Rodoret to the summit of the Balsille by night, before it was known that they were in the neighbourhood. They immediately set to work to throw up entrenchments and erect barricades, so as to render the place as secure as possible. Foraging parties were sent out for provisions, to lay in for the winter, and they returned laden with corn from the valley of Pragelas. At the little hamlet of Balsille they repaired the mill, and set it a-going, the rivulet which flowed down from the mountain supplying abundance of water-power.

It was at the end of October that the little band of heroes took possession of the Balsille, and they held it firmly all through the winter. For more than six months they beat back every force that was sent against them. The first attack was made by the Marquis d'Ombrailles at the head of a French detachment; but though the enemy reached the village of Balsille, they were compelled to retire, partly by the bullets of the defenders, and partly by the snow, which was falling heavily. The Marquis de Parelles next advanced, and summoned the Vaudois to surrender; but in vain. "Our storms are still louder than your cannon," replied Arnaud, "and yet our rocks are not shaken." Winter having set in, the besiegers refrained for a time from further attacks, but strictly guarded all the passes leading to the fortress; while the garrison, availing themselves of their knowledge of the locality, made frequent sorties into the adjoining valleys, as well as into those of Dauphiny, for the purpose of collecting provisions, in which they were usually successful.

When the fine weather arrived, suitable for a mountain campaign, the French general, Catinat, assembled a strong force, and marched into the valley, determined to make short work of this little nest of bandits on the Balsille. On Sunday morning, the 30th of April, 1690, while Arnaud was preaching to his flock, the sentinels on the look-out discovered the enemy's forces swarming up the valley. Soon other bodies were seen approaching by the Col du Pis and the Col du Clapier, while a French regiment, supported by the Savoyard militia, climbed Mont Guinevert, and cut off all retreat in that quarter. In short, the Balsille was completely invested.

A general assault was made on the position on the 2nd of May, under the direction of General Catinat in person. Three French regiments, supported by a regiment of dragoons, opened the attack in front; Colonel de Parat, who commanded the leading regiment, saying to his soldiers as they advanced, "My friends, we must sleep to-night in that barrack," pointing to the rude Vaudois fort on the summit of the Balsille. They advanced with great bravery; but the barricade could not be surmounted, while they were assailed by a perfect storm of bullets from the defenders, securely posted above.

Catinat next ordered the troops stationed on the Guinevert to advance from that direction, so as to carry the position from behind. But the assailants found unexpected intrenchments in their way, from behind which the Vaudois maintained a heavy fire, that eventually drove them back, their retreat being accelerated by a shower of stones and a blinding fall of snow and hail. In the meantime, the attack on the bastion in front continued, and the Vaudois, seeing the French troops falling back in disorder, made a vigorous sortie, and destroyed the whole remaining force, excepting fifteen men, who fled, bare-headed and without arms, and carried to the camp the news of their total defeat.

A Savoyard officer thus briefly described the issue of the disastrous affair in a letter to a friend: "I have only time to tell you that the French have failed in their attack on the Balsille, and they have been obliged to retire after having lost one hundred and fifty soldiers, three captains, besides subalterns and wounded, including a colonel and a lieutenant-colonel who have been made prisoners, with the two sergeants who remained behind to help them. The lieutenant-colonel was surprised at finding in the fort some nineteen or twenty officers in gold and silver lace, who treated him as a prisoner of war and very humanely, even allowing him to go in search of the surgeon-major of his regiment for the purpose of bringing him into the place, and doing all that was necessary."

Catinat did not choose again to renew the attack in person, or to endanger his reputation by a further defeat at the hands of men whom he had described as a nest of paltry bandits, but entrusted the direction of further operations to the Marquis de Féuquières, who had his laurels still to win, while Catinat had his to lose. The Balsille was again completely invested by the 12th of May, according to the scheme of operations prepared by Catinat, and the Marquis received by anticipation the title of "Conqueror of the Barbets." The entire mountain was surrounded, all the passes were strongly guarded, guns were planted in positions which commanded the Vaudois fort, more particularly on the Guinevert; and the capture or extermination of the Vaudois was now regarded as a matter of certainty. The attacking army was divided into five corps. Each soldier was accompanied by a pioneer carrying a fascine, in order to form a cover against the Vaudois bullets as they advanced.

Several days elapsed before all the preliminaries for the grand attack were completed, and then the Marquis ordered a white flag to be hoisted, and a messenger was sent forward, inviting a parley with the defenders of the Balsille. The envoy was asked what he wanted. "Your immediate surrender!" was the reply. "You shall each of you receive five hundred louis d'or, and good passports for your retirement to a foreign country; but if you resist, you will be infallibly destroyed." "That is as the Lord shall will," replied the Vaudois messenger.

The defenders refused to capitulate on any terms. The Marquis himself then wrote to the Vaudois, offering them terms on the above basis, but threatening, in case of refusal, that every man of them would be hung. Arnaud's reply was heroic. "We are not subjects," he said, "of the King of France; and that monarch not being master of this country, we can enter into no treaty with his servants. We are in the heritage which our fathers have left to us, and we hope, with the help of the God of armies, to live and die in it, even though there may remain only ten of us to defend it." That same night the Vaudois made a vigorous sortie, and killed a number of the besiegers: this was their final answer to the summons to surrender.

On the 14th of May the battery on Mont Guinevert was opened, and the enemy's cannon began to play upon the little fort and bastions, which, being only of dry stones, were soon dismantled. The assault was then made simultaneously on three sides; and after a stout resistance, the Vaudois retired from their lower intrenchments, and retreated to those on the higher ledges of the mountain. They continued their resistance until night, and then, taking counsel together, and feeling that the place was no longer defensible in the face of so overpowering a force, commanded, as it was, at the same time by the cannon on the adjoining heights, they determined to evacuate the Balsille, after holding it for a period of nearly seven months.

A thick mist having risen up from the valley, the Vaudois set out, late at night, under the guidance of Captain Poulat, a native of the district, who well knew the paths in the mountains. They climbed up on to the heights above, over icy slopes, passing across gaping crevices and along almost perpendicular rocks, admitting of their passage only in single file, sometimes dragging themselves along on their bellies, clinging to the rocks or to the tufts of grass, occasionally resting and praying, but never despairing. At length they succeeded, after a long détour of the mountain crests, in gaining the northern slope of Guinevert. Here they came upon and surprised the enemy's outpost, which fled towards the main body; and the Vaudois passed on, panting and half dead with fatigue. When the morning broke, and the French proceeded to penetrate the last redoubt on the Balsille, lo, it was empty! The defenders had abandoned it, and they could scarcely believe their eyes when they saw the dangerous mountain escarpment by which they had escaped in the night. Looking across the valley, far off, they saw the fugitives, thrown into relief by the snow amidst which they marched, like a line of ants, apparently making for the mass of the central Alps.

For three days they wandered from place to place, gradually moving southwards, their object now being to take up their position at the Pra du Tour, the ancient fortress of the Barbas in the valley of Angrogna. Before, however, they could reach this stronghold, and while they were still at Pramol in the valley of Perosa, news of the most unexpected kind reached them, which opened up the prospect of their deliverance. The news was no other than this—Savoy had declared war against France!

A rupture between the two powers had for some time been imminent. Louis XIV. had become more and more exacting in his demands on the Duke of Savoy, until the latter felt himself in a position of oppressive vassalage. Louis had even intimated his intention of occupying Verrua and the citadel of Turin; and the Duke, having previously ascertained through his cousin, Prince Eugène, the willingness of the Emperor of Austria, pressed by William of Orange, to assist him in opposing the pretensions of France, he at length took up his stand and declared war against Louis.

The Vaudois were now a power in the state, and both parties alike appealed to them for help, promising them great favours. But the Vaudois, notwithstanding the treachery and cruelty of successive Dukes of Savoy, were true to their native prince. They pledged themselves to hold the valleys and defend the mountain passes against France.

In the first engagements which took place between the French and the Piedmontese, the latter were overpowered, and the Duke became a fugitive. Where did he find refuge? In the valleys of the Vaudois, in a secluded spot in the village of Rora, behind the Pelice, he found a safe asylum amidst the people whose fathers he had hunted, proscribed, and condemned to death.

But the tide of war turned, and the French were eventually driven out of Piedmont. Many of the Vaudois, who had settled in Brandenburg, Holland, and Switzerland, returned and settled in the valleys; and though the Dukes of Savoy, with their accustomed treachery, more than once allowed persecution to recommence, their descendants continue to enjoy the land, and to worship after the manner of their fathers down to the present day.

The Vaudois long laboured under disabilities, and continued to be deprived of many social and civil rights. But they patiently bided their time; and the time at length arrived. In 1848 their emancipation was one of the great questions of North Italy. It was taken up and advocated by the most advanced minds of Piedmont. The petition to Charles Albert in their favour was in a few days covered with the names of its greatest patriots, including those of Balbo, Cavour, and D'Azeglio. Their emancipation was at length granted, and the Vaudois now enjoy the same rights and liberties as the other subjects of Victor Emanuel.

Nor is the Vaudois Church any longer confined to the valleys, but it has become extended of late years all over Italy—to Milan, Florence, Brescia, Verona, Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Palermo, Cataneo, Venice, and even to Rome itself. In most of these places there are day-schools and Sunday-schools, besides churches. The new church at Venice, held in the Cavagnis palace, seems to have proved especially successful, the Sunday services being regularly attended by from three to four hundred persons; while the day-schools in connection with the churches at Turin, Leghorn, Naples, and Cataneo have proved very successful.

Thus, in the course of a few years, thirty-three Vaudois churches and stations, with about an equal number of schools, have been established in various parts of Italy. The missionaries report that the greatest difficulties they have to encounter arise from the incredulity and indifference which are the natural heritage of the Romish Church; but that, nevertheless, the work makes satisfactory progress—the good seed is being planted, and will yet bring forth its increase in God's due time.

Finally, it cannot but be acknowledged that the people of the valleys, in so tenaciously and conscientiously adhering to their faith, through good and through evil, during so many hundred years, have set a glorious example to Piedmont, and have possibly been in no small degree instrumental in establishing the reign of right and of liberty in Italy.

INDEX.

Aiguesmortes, Huguenot prison at, 193, 273, 300. Albigenses, 75. Anabaptists of Munster, 282-3. Anduze, visit to, 125. Angrogna, valley of, 481; fighting in, 481-86, 498. Arnaud, Henry, 215, 512; leads back the Vaudois, 503-15; defends the Balsille, 515-19. Athlone, siege of, 349-50, 355-8.

Balsille, the, 510; defence of, 515-19; given up, 519. Baridon, Etienne, 442-3. Barillon, M. de, 323, 330-1. Baville on the Protestants of Languedoc, 77, 86; occupies the Cevennes, 87; at Pont-de-Montvert, 92. Beauval, Basnage de, 364. Beauvau, Prince de, 273-4. Beckwith, General, 478. Berwick, Duke of, 310-11, 333, 351. Bibles, destruction and scarcity of, 215-16. Boileau, General, 351-2. Bonnafoux repulsed by Camisards, 142. Book-burning, 215, 235-6. Bordeille, Raphaël, 318. Bourg d'Oisans, 409-10. Boyne, battle of the, 341-7. Briançon, 414-16. Briset, Lieut., death of, 335. Broglie, Count, 143-4, 148; superseded, 149. Brousson, Claude, 30; advocate for Protestant church at Nismes, 31; meeting in house of, 34; petition by, 35; escape from Nismes, 42; at Lausanne, 43, 46; at Berlin, 44; in the Cevennes, 50-2, 54; reward offered for, 56; at Nismes, 57; preaching of, 58-9; to Lausanne, England, and Holland, 61-2; at Sedan, 64; through France, 66-7; portraiture of, 68 (note); to Nismes again, 69; taken, tried, and executed, 70-3. Browne, Col. Lyde, 380. Brueys on fanaticism in Languedoc, 91. Bull of Clement XI. against Camisards, 160.

Caillemotte, Col., 339; death of, 345, 348. Calas, Jean, 257; executed, 258; case taken up by Voltaire, 259-62; reversal of judgment on, 262-3. Calvinism and race, 100 (note). Calvinists, French and Scotch, compared, 100. Cambon, Col., 357. Camisards, the origin of name, 107; led by Laporte, 109; organization of, 112-13; encounter troops, 113-14, 117; war-song of, 115; organized by Roland, 123-4; successes of, 134-40, 142, 146-50; spread of insurrection of, 138-9; measures against, 139, 146-7; defeat of, at Vagnas, 150; defeat of, near Pompignan, 152; success of, at Martinargues, 162-4; bull against, 160; success at Salindres, 164-5; defeated near Nismes, 168-9; reverses of, 170-1; success at Font-morte, 176-7; defeated at Pont-de-Montvert, and end of insurrection, 187-9. Camisards, White, 160-1. Carrickfergus, siege of, 335. Castanet, André, 111, 113, 118, 123, 189. Cavalier, John, joins insurgents, 108, 111; family of, 121; to Geneva, 121; to the Cevennes, 122; portrait of, 124; in Lower Languedoc, 133; defeats Royalists, 134-5; takes Château Servas, 136-7; repulses Bonnafoux, 142; at Nismes, 144-5; successes of, 148; winter campaign, 148-9; at Vagnas, 150-1, 153; betrayed at Tower of Belliot, 156-8; at Martinargues, 162-4; at Rosni, 169; his cave magazines, 170-1; his interview with Lalande, 173-6; attempts peace, 177; his interviews with Villars, 177-83; deserted by followers, 183-5; to England, and subsequent career, 186. Caves in the Cevennes, 125, 127-9; at La Tour, 477. Cazenove, Raoul de, 321, 367. Cevennes, the, persecutions in, 39, 52-3, 85; secret meetings in, 54, 84-8; executions in, 59, 67-8; description of, 79-82; arming of the people, 85-6; occupied by troops, 88; prophetic mania in, 88; encounter at Pont-de-Montvert, 92; outbreak against Du Chayla, 96-7; map of, 98; Protestants of, compared with Covenanters, 100-1; organization in, 123-5; caves in, 125, 127-9; visit to, 125-9; present inhabitants of, 129, 131-2; devastation of, 154-5. Champ Domergue, battle at, 114. Charlemont, capture of, 339. Château Queyras, 467. Chaumont, 271. Chayla, Du, 93-4, 97. Chenevix, 15 (note). Choiseul, Duc de, 268. Claris, 237. Colognac, execution of, 59. Comiers, 407. Conderc, Salomon, 119, 123. "Conversions," rapid, 289. Converts, 19-23, 38-9. Cook, Captain, last voyage round the world, 371; cruel death, 371. Court profligacy, 275 (note). Court, Antoine, 206-17; organizes school for preachers, 224; marriage of, 231; retires to Switzerland, 232; results of his work, 233-4; in Languedoc, 239. Covenanters compared with Protestants of the Cevennes, 100-2. Cromwell, 391-2, 476.

D'Aguesseau's opinion of Protestants of Languedoc, 76-7. Dauphiny, map of, 382; aspect of, 383-4. Delada, Mdlle. de, 295. Denbeck, Abbé of, 322-3. Denèse, Rotolf de la, 364. Desert, assemblies in the, 83-8, 218-23. Desparvés, M., 297. Dormilhouse, 438, 443-54. Dortial, 238. Douglas, Lieut.-General, 349-51, 355. Dragonnades, 36-7, 42, 54-5, 288; horrors of, 291. Drogheda, surrender of, 349. Dumas, death of, 52. Dundalk, Schomberg's army at, 337-8. Durand, Pierre, 236.

Easter massacre of the Vaudois, 390-92. England attempts to assist the Camisards, 166-7. Enniskilleners, the, 336. Evertzen, Vice-Admiral, 325. Execution of Pastors, 27.

Fabre, Jean, 265; sent to galleys, 266-9; obtains leave of absence, 269; exonerated, 270; life dramatized, and result, 270. Fermaud, Pastor, 407. Freemantle, Rev. Mr., visits of, to the Vaudois, 395, 450, 462. French labouring classes, present condition of, 397-400. Freney, gorge of, 411. Fusiliers, missionary, 293.

Galley, description of, 197-8; use in war, 200-4. Galley-slaves, treatment of, 194-204; liberation of Protestants, 204, 264 (note), 271-3. Galway, Earl of, 360. Gilly, Dr., visit to the Vaudois, 393-4, 468, 477. Ginckel, Lieut.-General, 347, 354 et seq. Glorious Return of the Vaudois, 493-5. Grace, Col. Richard, 351. Guarrison, Mdlle. de, 294. Guerin, death of, 67. Guignon betrays Cavalier, 156; executed, 159. Guil, valley of the, 466. Guillestre, 456-66. Guion executed, 57.

Herbert, Admiral, 325. Homel, tortures and death of, 40. Hood, Lord, 376. Huguenots, the (see Camisards); emigrations of, 43, 76-8, 83, 287, 316; persecution of, after Camisard insurrection, 190-204; as galley-slaves, 194-204; brought together by Court, 210-17; reorganization of, 218-228; outrages on, 228; great assemblies of, 239-40; last of the executions, 258; last of the galley-slaves, 265-273; character of, 274-5; later history of, 276-283; decrees against, 286-6; in England, 309; foreign services of, 316-17.

Ireland and James II., 331 et seq. Irish Brigade, 140-2, 359. Iron Boot, the, 102.

James II., flight of, 309, 329; lands with an army in Ireland, 309, 332; campaign against William III., 309 et seq., 333 et seq.; deserted, 328; taken prisoner, 329; his last proclamation, 330; at the French court, 331; cowardice, 337, 347-8; Catholic estimate of his character, 348. Joany, Nicholas, insurgent leader, 120, 123, 151. Johannot, 269. Julien, Brigadier, 147, 150-1.

Lagier, Jean, 452, 453 (note). Lajonquière defeated at Martinargues, 162-4. Lalande, his interview with Cavalier, 173-6. Languedoc (see Cevennes), early liberty in, 75; Albigenses in, 75; Protestants of, 76-7; industry of, 76; emigration from, after Revocation, 78, 289; arming of people of, 85-6; outbreak of fanaticism in, 88-92; present inhabitants of, 280-3. Laporte, leader of Camisards, 109-10; organizes insurgents, 112; at Collet, 113; at Champ Domergue, 114; killed at Molezon, 117. La Salette, 404; miracle of, 405-6. La Tour, 476-80. Laugier at Guillestre, 463; at Château Queyras, 464. Lausanne, school for preachers at, 224; Society of Help at, 224-5. Lauteret, Col de, 413. Lauzun, Count, 339, 358. Lesdiguières, Duc de, 402-3, 455. Limerick, siege of, 351-4, 359. Lintarde, Marie, imprisonment of, 54. Locke, John, on Protestants of Nismes, 31 (note). Londonderry, siege of, 333. Louis XIV., 2, 10, 146, 205. Louis XV., 275. Louis XVI., 276; maxim of, 285; his decrees against Protestants, 285-6; his mode of stopping the emigration of Huguenots, 287-8; expulsion of Protestants, 316; assists James II., 332. Luttrell, Capt., brilliant naval achievement of, 372.

Mackay, Major-General, 355, 357. Marillac, Michel de, inventor of the dragonnades, 288. Marion on influence of Camisard prophets, 119. Marlborough, Earl of, 354. Marteilhe, autobiography of, 195, 201-4. Martinargues, battle at, 162-4. Massillon on Louis XIV., 10. Mazel, Abraham, 120, 123. Mialet, visit to, 127-8. Milsom, Edward, 395, 451, 490-92. Missionaries, booted, 288. Montandre, Marquis de, 314. Montauban, persecutions at, 289-90. Montpellier, Protestant Church at, 32-3; the Peyron at, 72; execution of Brousson at, 73, 300. Montrevel, Marshal, in Languedoc, 149; at Pompignan, 152; adopts extermination, 153; at Tower of Belliot, 156-8; character of, 159; recalled, 167; defeats Cavalier, 168-9.

Nantes, Revocation of Edict of, and its results, 1-19, 24, 44-5, 78; contemporary opinion upon, 1-10; enactments of Edict of Revocation, 12-15, 285-6. Neff, Felix, 427-32; life of, 394, 404; his account of winter at Dormilhouse, 447; his charge, 469. Nelson, Lord, eulogium on Capt. Riou, 368; at the battle of Copenhagen, 378-9. Ners, visit to, 131. Newton Butler, engagement at, 333. Nismes, Protestant Church at, 31; petition from, 41; Brousson at, 57, 69; Guion at, 57; country about, 81, 130-2; success of Camisards near, 143; Cavalier at, 144-5, 177-83; treaty of, 179-80; Huguenot meetings at, 265.

Ormond, Duke of, 349.

Palons, 433-6. Paulet, Mdlle., forgeries in name of, 32-4. Pechell, Augustus, 315. Pechell, Capt. William Cecil, 315. Pechell, Col. Jacob, 313. Pechell, Paul, 314. Pechell, Samuel, extraordinary probity of, 314. Pechell, Sir G. R. Brooke, 315. Pechell, Sir Thomas, 315. Péchels de la Boissonade, Samuel de, narrative of his persecutions, 291 et seq.; imprisonment, 296, 299-301; meeting with his wife, 297; condemned to banishment, 299; embarkation, 302; sails for America, 303; sufferings, 304-5; reaches the West Indies, 305; illness and arrival in London, 307; accepts a commission in the English army, 309; campaign in Ireland, 310; return to London, 311; removal with his wife and son to Dublin, 312; death of, 312; his descendants, 313. Péchels, family of, 290. Péchels, Madame de, inhumanity towards, 294-5; touching interview with her husband, 297; further trials, 297; escape to Geneva, 298; in London, 308; reunited to her husband, 311. Pelice, Valley of the, 472. Pélisson, 323. Pont-de-Montvert, outbreak at, 92-7; description of, 93-4; end of Camisard insurrection at, 187-9. Portland, Earl of, 361, 363. Portland Vase, 363. Poul, Captain, in Upper Cevennes, 108; at Champ Domergue, 114-16; takes Laporte at Molezon, 117; defeated and killed near Nismes, 143-4. Pra du Tour, 486-90, 499. Preachers, education of, 221-4; hardships of, 225-9, 236-8. Project, the, 34. "Protestant wind," the, 325. Protestantism in France, present chances of, 417.

Quoite, execution of, 53.

Rapin, Capt. Paul, birth and education, 321-2; emigrates to England, 322; embarks for Holland, 323; a cadet in the Dutch army, 324; sails for England, 325; encounters a storm, 326; with the army of William III., 335 et seq.; aide-de-camp, 350; wounded and promoted, 354; conciliatory spirit, 358-9; at Kinsale, 359; tutor to Lord Woodstock, 360; presented to the King, 371; makes the "grand tour" with his pupil, 362-3; secures the Portland Vase, 363; marriage, 363; at the Hague and Wesel, 364; his "Dissertation on the Origin and Nature of the English Constitution," 364; "History of England," 364-7; death of, 366. Rapin, Daniel de, 324. Rapin family, 317-21, 367. Rapin, Solomon, 354, 360. Ravanel, insurgent leader, defeats Royalists near Nismes, 143; near Bouquet, 145; supplants Cavalier, 182-5; death of, 189. Redothière, Isabeau, 53. Rességuerie, M. de la, 297. Rey, Fulcran, his preaching and death, 25-7. Riou, Capt., R.N., Lord Nelson's opinion of, 368; ancestry, 368-70; birth and education, 370; becomes a midshipman, 370; accompanies Capt. Cook in his last voyage, 371; witnesses the murder of the captain, 371; return to England and appointed lieutenant, 372; a sharer in the glory of Capt. Luttrell's brilliant achievement, 372; appointed to the command of the Guardian, 373; letters to his mother, 373, 377; his ship strikes upon an iceberg, 374; remains with the vessel, 375; letter to the Admiralty, 375; extract from his log, 376; rescued by Dutch whalers, and return to England, 376; receives the special thanks of the Admiralty, 377; commander of the royal yacht Princess Augusta, 378; at the battle of Copenhagen, 378-9; death of, 379; his character, 379-80; monument in St. Paul's Cathedral, 380. Rochemalan, Vaudois struggles at, 482-6. Roger, Jacques, 213. Roland, nephew of Laporte, 111; insurgent leader, 113; succeeds Laporte, 118; in Lower Cevennes, 122; organizes Camisards, 123-5; takes Sauvé, 137; at Pompignan, 152; at Salindres, 164-5; at Font-Morte, 176-7; at Pont-de-Montvert, 187; death of, 188. Romanche, Valley of the, 401, 408. Rosen, Count, 332; indignation against King James, 337. Rostan, Alpine missionary, 460 (note). Rou, Jean, 363-4. Roussel, Alexandre, 232. Ruvigny, Major-General, 357.

St. Bartholomew, doubt thrown upon massacre of, 27. Saint-Etienne, Rabout, 276-7. St. Hypolite, meeting at, 35. Saint-Ruth, Marshal, 38; in Ireland, 38 (note), 354 et seq. Saint-Simon on the treatment of converts, 23. Sands, Captain, 357. San Veran, 468. Sarsfield, General, 351-3, 356. Savoy and France, war declared, 520. Savoy, Duke of, takes refuge with the Vaudois, 520. Schomberg, Marshal, 309 et seq., 317, 344 et seq.; death of, 345. Schomberg, Count, 348. Sedan, prosperity of, before Revocation, 64-5; Brousson at, 65-6. Seguier, Pierre, insurgent leader, 96, 103; at Frugères, 104; at Font-Morte, 106; taken, tried, and executed, 106-7. Sirven, 263; case of, taken up by Voltaire, 264. Society of Friends in Languedoc, 281-2. Souverain executed, 52. Squeezers, the, 101 (note). Synod of French Protestant Church, 283.

Talmash, Major-General, 357. Telford, anecdote of, 82. Testart, Marie Anne, 363. Tetleau, Major-General, 357. Toleration, Edict of, 276. "Troopers' Lane," 310. Tyrconnel, Earl of, 331-2. Tyrconnel, Lady, retort to King James, 348.

Val Fressinières, 423-5, 432-43. Val Louise, 420; massacre at, 422. Vaudois, the country of, 385; early Christianity of, 386-6; early persecutions of, 388; Easter massacre of, 390-1; visits of Dr. Gilly to, 393-4, 468, 477; passiveness of, 420-1; massacre of, at Val Louise, 422; persecutions of, 424-6, 455, 481, 495-500, 513-20; refuges of, 459, 467, 475, 477, 481; struggles of, at Rochemalan, 482-6; flight at the Revocation, 495; apparently exterminated, 500; in Switzerland, 501; prepare to return, 502; Arnaud appointed leader, 502; assisted by William of Orange, 503; The Glorious Return of, 504-13; struggles of, at the Balsille, 515; assist Duke of Savoy, 520; emancipation of, 521-2. Venours, Marquis de, death of, 335. Vesson, 212, 214. Vidal, Isaac, preacher, 48. Villars, Marshal, on prophetic mania in Languedoc, 90; appointed to command in Languedoc, 167; at Nismes, 169; clemency of, 172-86; treats with Cavalier, 177, 185; suppresses insurrection of Camisards, 188. Vincent, Isabel, prophetess, 89, 90. Vivens, death of, 56. Voltaire, takes up case of Calas, 259-63; takes up case of Sirven, 264; case of Chaumont, 271.

Waldenses, the, 384. Walker, Dr. George, death of, 348. Waller, Sir James, 359. Wheel, punishment of the, 258 (note). William of Orange lands in England, 308; proclaimed King, 309; campaign against James II., 309 et seq., 340 et seq.; his fleet, 325-7; wounded, 342; death of, 364. Woodstock, Lord, 360-3. Wurtemberg, Duke of, 340, 357.

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