which guaranteed the ancient rights of the Vau-、 dois, and the free exercise of their religion; whilst the Elector Palatine, the Duke of Würtemberg, the Margrave of Baden, the Swiss cantons, and Calvin and the ministers of Geneva contributed to the relief of the families

in the valleys. Within the short space of four years the edict in their favour was resciuded, by an exterminating edict that of 1565-issued against them. On this occasion Castrocaro, appointed governor of the valleys, took the command of the troops, and commenced the persecution in villages of Piedmont contiguous to the valleys; but was at that time restrained from farther proceedings, by the remonstrance presented to the court of Savoy by the Elector Palatine, and the intercession of their humane protectress-Margaret Duchess of Savoy.

In consequence of an edict in 1602 which abridged the religious liberties of the Vaudois, three commissioners, the Count of Luzerne, the Governor of Turin, and the archbishop, accompanied by many jesuits, required the Vaudois of the towns of Luzerne, Bubiana, Fenil, and Campillon-in the vicinity of the valleys-to quit their habitations, or attend mass.

The year 1624 was distinguished by the entrance of a regiment of infantry into the valley

of Pérouse, with a view to destroy six churches that had been built. This, and other harassing circumstances, appeared to be such clear indications of an approaching storm, that the King of England, Charles I., sent an ambassador extraordinary to the court of Turin to intercede in favour of the Vaudois, and procure a suspension of the attempts to molest them. So precarious was their condition, however, that the same monarch deemed it expedient to send another ambassador extraordinary in 1629, who, though he succeeded in obtaining the most honourable proofs of the fidelity of the Vaudois to their prince, and the kind disposition of the prince towards his Vaudois subjects, too clearly perceived such an implacable animosity on the part of the Roman catholic priesthood, as threatened eventually the most unhappy consequences.

The expected results did not immediately occur; but such profoundly politic schemes were adopted by the court of Rome, as could not fail in the end to produce the most serious calamities. For in the year 1650, a “Council" was established at Turin,-formed on the model of that at Rome,-" for the propagation of the faith, and the extirpation of heretics." It included active devotees of both sexes, inde

fatigable in promoting the objects of the court of Rome. The archbishop of Turin presided over the male department of the council; the Marchioness di Pianezza over the female members.

The misguided zeal of these devotees,—who, by bribes and menaces, and various other means, aimed to make proselytes amongst the Vaudois, at length developed itself still more fully in the too-celebrated order of the Auditor Gastaldo, which positively required that the Vaudois of Luzerne, St. Jean, La Tour, and other places, should abandon their homes within the space of three days; under the severe penalty of death, and the confiscation of property, should they remain and refuse to attend mass. This cruel injunction, issued in the midst of a hard winter, was but the forerunner of still more formidable evils, when-in the year 1655- the Marquis di Pianezza marched a body of troops, amounting to fifteen thousand men, into the valley of Luzerne. The details of his cruel and perfidious conduct are of the most afflicting nature, marked as the massacres were by features of peculiar atrocity, when persons of either sex, and even the most helpless of the aged, as well as children of the tenderest years, became the victims of the inhuman soldiery.

The barbarities committed incensed some of the Vaudois to such a degree, that—formidable as their opponents were for numbers, they roused themselves to action under the conduct of two leaders, named Janavel and Jayer; and engaging in guerilla expeditions, frequently attacked parties of the enemy, and overwhelmed their superior force by such prodigies of valour, that though long habituated to the arts of peaceful industry, and gentle in deportment when unmolested," in battle,”—it was remarked, they "fought more like lions than like men."

The barbarities practised during the persecution of 1655, awakened the sympathy and indignation of Europe; and ambassadors arrived at Turin without delay from Switzerland, the United Provinces, and England, to remonstrate on such proceedings towards the oppressed Vaudois, and to intercede in their behalf.

On this memorable occasion England shone with conspicuous lustre amidst the other benefactors of the Vaudois; for, by Cromwell's order, a collection was made for their relief throughout all the churches of the realm, that amounted to £38,241. 1s. 6d. Sir Samuel Morland was also despatched as extraordinary commissioner in their favour; first to the court of France, and next to that of Turin; and he both

faithfully performed his office as an advocate and almoner, as well as procured numerous MS. documents of great antiquity relative to their history and religion, which he deposited in the public library at Cambridge; whilst Milton, the first poet of the age, and of our country, as Cromwell's secretary, wrote letters of appeal on behalf of the sufferers, to the King of France, the King of Sweden, the King of Denmark, the Duke of Savoy, and the States-General of the United Provinces. should be added, that the King of Sweden, the Elector of Brandenburg, the Elector Palatine, and the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, came forward with the zeal becoming princes of the reformed religion, to intercede for their oppressed fellow-christians of the valleys.

It

This powerful interference restrained for a while the attempts of their oppressors; but the ⚫ revocation of the edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. an event which so severely afflicted the protestant church of France,-became another memorable era in the history of the Vaudois. The same sinister policy, and misguided zeal, which then prevailed at the court of Versailles, and almost accomplished the ruin of the French protestants, soon displayed themselves at the court of Turin, and urged the adoption of similar measures for extirpating the Vaudois.