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BRJF^F : SKETCH 
 
 HISTORY AND PRESENT SITUATION 
 
 THE VALDENSES 
 
 IN PIEMONT, 
 
 COMMONLY CALLED VAUDOIS. 
 
 HUGH DYKE ACLAND, Esq. 
 
 LONDON : 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBERMARLE-STREET. 
 
 MDCCCXXV. 
 
 X3 
 
LONDON: 
 Printed by William Clowes, 
 Northumberland-court. 
 
SKETCH 
 
 OP THE 
 
 HISTORY AND PRESENT SITUATION 
 
 OF 
 
 THE VAUDOIS. 
 
 AN the following pages will be found a brief sketch of 
 the history of the Vaudois, and some account of their 
 present situation. The latter is founded partly on the 
 writer's personal observations, and partly on evidence, 
 to which he has reason to give implicit credit. The 
 materials for the sketch of their history, have been 
 drawn from accounts given of these people by their 
 Roman Catholic persecutors, supported by the testimony 
 of the earliest reformers, and from the writings of Leger, 
 Gilles, and Henri Arnaud. 
 
 It is presumed that every considerate reader will ob- 
 serve, in these statements, the strongest grounds for his 
 admiration and sympathy. The Vaudois will be found 
 to have been objects of persecution, unexampled both in 
 severity and protraction, and this only on account of 
 their inviolable attachment to genuine Christianity from 
 the earliest christian times. They will be seen during 
 the darkest periods of christian history, as a light in the 
 
2 [History and present Situation 
 
 midst of darkness *, a green spot in the sandy desert ; 
 and as they are entitled to our gratitude and veneration, 
 for having preserved, to our benefit, the pure doctrine of 
 the Apostles t, so they are entitled to our active benevo- 
 lence, as they are still pursued for the same holy cause 
 by the same spirit of persecution, displayed, indeed, no 
 longer in fire and sword, but in their modern substitute, 
 a systematic and vexatious oppression. But let the 
 reader judge for himself. Their circumstances, past and 
 present, will surely interest him as a man; but as a 
 christian, they will do more, especially if he is trusted 
 with the means of affording relief. 
 
 The Vaudoisare confined by an oppressive law to a 
 small tract- of mountain country, between the valley of the 
 Po on the south (which river rises at the foot of Mont 
 Viso) and the valley of Fenestrelle or of the Clusone on 
 the north, through which passes the great road from 
 
 * These valleys have had arms from time out of mind, viz. a 
 torch and seven stars, environed by darkness, and the motto, " Lux 
 lucet in tenebris." 
 
 f If any persons, accustomed to consider that every channel of 
 religion was denied previously to the reformation, should think that 
 the idea of a primitive Christianity, uncontaminated from the time of 
 the Apostles, is too enthusiastic, let them turn their attention to 
 the Syriac Church, now a little removed from the coast of Mala- 
 bar, comprising fifty thousand Christians as yet undivided by sect. 
 These, undoubtedly, received the first glad tidings of the Gospel 
 from St. Thomas himself, and their number, . before the . establish- 
 ment of the Inquisition by the Portuguese, was nearly four times as 
 great. — Buchanan. 
 
of the Vaudois. 3 
 
 Briancon to Turin by Mont Genevre*. The eastern 
 part of this little tract descends into Piemont, but by 
 far the greater consists of lofty and barren mountains, 
 bounded on the westward by that part of the central 
 chain of the Alps which runs nearly in a northerly direc- 
 tion from Mount Viso to the Col de Laus or dAbries, 
 and then by a high branch, in the same direction, as far 
 as the. Col d'Abergian, the central chain having made an 
 abrupt turn to the westward, in the direction for Mont 
 Genevre. The whole is under the dominion of the king 
 of Sardinia, and in the diocese of Pignerol, through which 
 town lies the approach from Turin, the distance between 
 them and this, capital being about thirty-five miles. 
 Formerly, they inhabited more than double this space ; 
 but continual persecutions, amounting,' in one instance,' 
 almost to total annihilation, and actually to total extirpa- 
 tion as far as relates to the soil,, have thus contracted their 
 circle, which- would have otherwise, in all probability, 
 diverged over the whole of Piemont. 
 
 When it is asserted that the church of the Vaudois has 
 remained uncontaminate from the earliest christian times, 
 it cannot be .expected that the writer should trace a clear 
 and connected history of it up to the time of the Apostles. 
 The religious and political history even^of mighty nations. 
 
 * This road was made by Napoleon, and was open to carriages.' 
 Diligences were already established on it, and the Poste aux Clie- 
 vaux was on the point of being so/- It- has been suffered, by his 
 Sardinian Majesty, to go into decay above Fenestrellc, but is' ex- ! 
 eellcnt as far as that place, where there is a noble fort: ! 
 
 B2 
 
4< History and present Situation 
 
 during the first centuries of Christianity, is, in no in- 
 stance, complete ; how then can accuracy, on this score, 
 be expected, with regard to so small and secluded a 
 people ? But if it can be clearly established, which it is 
 hoped can be done, that they were never implicated in 
 the errors of the Romish Church, nor ever acknowledged 
 the authority of its Pontiffs ; and if, as it is known to be, 
 the doctrine now held by them, as from father to son, is 
 pure and evangelical, the presumption surely is, that it 
 is also primitive ; for whence otherwise the origin of it£ 
 purity ? 
 
 The most commonly received notion of their origin is, 
 that they were reformed by one Pierre or Jean, surnamed 
 Valdo, (writers do not agree as to his christian name,) a 
 good and rich man of Lyons, and that they derive their 
 name of Valdenses, or Vaudois, from him. This Valdo, 
 being convinced of the errors of the Romish faith, openly 
 preached against them, and published a translation of 
 the Bible, at his own expense. He had many hearers, 
 and produced much conviction ; so that he was soon per- 
 secuted and obliged to escape and conceal himself. 
 Among other places of retreat, he found one with the 
 Vaudois of Piemont, and hence, as also from the re- 
 semblance of names*, the erroneous notion naturally 
 arose of his having been their founder. This notion was 
 
 * The real derivation of the name appears to be Vallis or Valle, 
 for Valdenses or Vallenses, and Vaux (for so valley is expressed in 
 " their own Patois,") for Vaudois. 
 
of the Vaudois. 5 
 
 eagerly seized on and strenuously supported by their 
 Romish adversaries, to whom it was evidently of the last 
 moment that the pure doctrine of the Vaudois should 
 not be regarded as antecedent to their own contaminated 
 one ; because that would be an insurmountable barrier 
 between their Pontiff and his claim to universal authority 
 over the Christian Church. Dr. Mosheim has been 
 supposed to favour this opinion, but he only says * that 
 the inhabitants of the valleys of Piemont do not derive 
 their name from their valleys, but are, however, to be 
 distinguished from the Valdenses, who, according to 
 him, are named after Valdo; conceding at the same 
 moment that there was a set of people in those valleys not 
 subject to the errors of the Church of Rome : indeed, in 
 an earlierf part of his work, when treating of the dis- 
 putes between the bishops, of Rome and Constantinople, 
 in the seventh century, he says that it is highly probable, 
 " That the Valdenses or Vaudois had already, in this 
 century, retired into the valleys of Piemont, that they 
 might be more at liberty to oppose the tyranny of those 
 imperious prelates." Now, Valdo appeared in 1170, 
 therefore, Dr. Mosheim must have had in view, in the 
 note just quoted, some mere question of names. 
 
 But the clearest proof can be adduced of the existence 
 both of the name and doctrine of the Vaudois, long 
 before the time of Valdo. Reinerius Sacco, an iii- 
 
 # Vide Note, page 452, vol. ii. 8vo. edit, 
 t Vol. ii. p. 17. 
 
6 History and present Situation 
 
 quisitor,;Who lived about seventy years after Valdo, and 
 was despatched by the See of Rome, to put down the 
 heretics of the valleys, says, in a report to the Pontiff, 
 '"die sono.da tempo , immembrabile," that they had 
 existed .from time immemorial; and even mentions- 
 authors of note who make their antiquity remount to the 
 Apostolic age *. The causes of their estrangement from' 
 his., church are thus singularly stated: — " It is because 
 the. men and women, the young and old, the labourer 
 and the learned man, do not cease to instruct themselves ; 
 because they have translated the Old and New Testa-' 
 ment into the vulgar tongue, and learn these books by 
 heart, and teach them ; because if scandal be committed 
 by any one it inspires them with horror, so that when 
 they see any one leading an irregular life, they say to 
 him, the apostles did not live so, nor should we who 
 would imitate the apostles: in short they look upon all 
 that a teacher advances unsupported by the New Testae 
 ment as fabulous." In another place he says, " that, 
 while all other sects inspire horror by the • frightful 
 blasphemies which they utter against God, this one has 
 a great appearance of piety, leads a regular life before 
 men, has just ideas on the subject of the Divinity, and 
 believes all the articles contained in the symbol; only it 
 attaches blame to the Romish church and clergy f." 
 The authority of this legate would be sufficient to 
 
 * Editor's note to Moshcim, p. 452, vol. 2. 
 t Bib. Patrum, vol. 25, p. 263. 
 
Of the Vaudois. 7 
 
 prove that the church of the Vaudois was not established 
 by Valdo ; but there are also, at this moment, in the 
 library at Geneva, authentic, manuscripts, comprising the 
 doctrine of the Vaudois, antecedent by many years to the 
 appearance of this reformer, in one of which, dated 1100, 
 the term itself of Vaudois is found*. 
 
 Having thus proved the existence of this church at the 
 end of the eleventh century, we shall trace it upwards by 
 the assistance still of their Romish opponents, who had 
 so great an interest in concealing its antiquity. Belve- 
 dere, a monk, employed by the Pope to ascertain the 
 origin of the creed of the Vaudois, and to attempt their 
 conversion, while complaining that he could not gain over 
 a single individual, says, " that the valleys of Angrogna 
 (meaning the Protestant valleys collectively) have always 
 contained heretics from the beginning^." In the same 
 
 * La Noble Leiconj written in the patois of the Vaudois : 
 
 Que che si trova alcun bon que voglia amar 
 
 Dio, e temer Jesu Christ. 
 
 Que non vollia maudire, ni jurar, ni mentir, 
 
 Ni avoutrar, ni ancire, ni penre de l'autruy, 
 
 Ni venjarse de li sio ennemie, 
 
 Illi dison quel es Vaudes e degne de murir. 
 
 If any good man can be found who is desirous of loving God, and 
 fearing Jesus Christ, who will not swear, nor lie, nor commit adul- 
 tery, nor kill, nor steal, nor revenge himself on his enemies, such a 
 one they say is a Vaudois, and worthy to die. 
 
 The whole of this curious poem is to be seen in the Appendix to 
 Mr. Gilly's elegant and copious work on these people. 
 
 t Relatione al Consiglio de Propaganda Fide et Extirpandis 
 Hereticis, p. 37. , Turin, 1636. 
 
8 History and present Situation 
 
 work is -found the admission of another Romish mis- 
 sionary, Rorenco, " that nothing certain can be disco- 
 vered respecting the epoch when this sect was introduced 
 into the valleys;" and at the same time that he connects 
 it with Claude, Bishop of Turin, he observes that the 
 heresies of that bishop had been continued in the valleys 
 throughout the ninth and tenth centuries, and existed 
 before his (Claude's) time. - Claude, who is here alluded 
 to, flourished in the time of Charlemagne, and boldly and 
 energetically condemned the innovations of the See of 
 Rome, at a time when the infallibility and supremacy of 
 the' pontiffs were not established as articles of faith, as is 
 clear from the following circumstance. The council of 
 Frankfort, convened by Charlemagne in the year 794, 
 unanimously condemned the worship of images, though 
 decreed by the pontiff Adrian and the second Nicene 
 Council, convoked by him expressly for that purpose*. 
 
 Samuel Cossino, a monk of the order of St. Francis, 
 declares, "that the error of the Vaudois lies in their 
 denial that the Romish is the holy mother church, and in 
 their having never subscribed to her traditions f. n 
 
 Reinerius, the inquisitor before quoted, makes use of 
 the term Leonist%, when speaking of them; thusidenti- 
 
 * Mosheiui, vol..ii., p. 94, 95.. 
 
 t Vittoria Triiimphale. Turin, 1510. 
 
 J The similarity between the terms Leonist and Lyonist has 
 sometimes led to a confusion of the former in the latter, which was a 
 term for the followers of Valdo, he beings an inhabitant of Lyons. 
 
of the Vaudois. , 9 
 
 fying them with the followers of Leon, who lived in the 
 time of Constantine the Great j and "who detesting the 
 avarice of Silvester I., and the extreme extravagance of 
 Constantine', preferred a life of poverty, in simplicity of 
 faith, to the stain of an over-rich benefice ; and to this 
 Leon attached themselves all who thought well upon the 
 faith*. ." Oampianus also, a Jesuit, when writing against 
 them, styles them "Majores nostras," our ancestors. 
 
 Here, then, is abundant proof, from their persecutors 
 themselves, that at a period long previous to the full- 
 grown enormity of the papal power, or the diffusion of 
 its errors over western Europe, the Vaudois were not 
 members of the Romish church. And surely it is more 
 natural to> suppose that at this early period they had 
 escaped the infection altogether, than- that in spite of the 
 state of ignorance in which they ■_ must have been hi 
 common with all Europe, they should have had the un- 
 derstanding and vigour to shake it off. The authorities 
 hitherto cited have been such as the Papists themselves 
 dare not attempt to-invalidate. To these may be added 
 those of Sleidan, a learned German, and the more learned 
 and celebrated Theodore Beza, who expressly declarethat 
 the Vaudois have always preserved the true religion, that \ 
 they are a remnant of a pure and primitive church, and 
 that in spite of all the horrible persecutions which they 
 have suffered, they have neverbeert Seduced within the 
 pale of the Romanists. The Vaudois themselves, when 
 * Claude Seysscl. 
 
10 History and present Situation 
 
 establishing their apostolic origin, trace the imposition of 
 hands to Claude, Bishop of Turin, and contend that 
 Claude was an opponent of all the errors then introduced 
 by the See of Rome, and was consecrated by bishops 
 who had not deserted the primitive faith. 
 
 It may be a matter of curiosity to inquire into the 
 means of the first conversion of these people to Chris- 
 tianity ; but it can hardly be gratified. We know that 
 St. Paul purposed a journey from Corinth to -Spain, 
 through Rome*; if that were effected, they may have 
 been blessed by the preaching of this apostle while on 
 his road, or they may have been visited by some of his 
 disciples from Rome ; or again, which appears most pro- 
 bable, some of the first converts of St. Paul* who fled 
 from Rome under the dreadful persecutions ' instituted 
 against them by the emperors, may have sought refuge 
 among these mountains, little aware that their descend- 
 ants, if such they be, would inherit from them, with the 
 same faith, persecutions of the same character, emanating 
 too from the same city, but aggravated by the blas- 
 phemous pretext that they were perpetrated in support 
 of Christianity. 
 
 Some apology may perhaps be due for this dry cita- 
 tion of authorities ; but there is something so interesting 
 in the idea of a pure flock, or in Henri Arnaud's own 
 words, of a " petit troupeau de pauvres brebis," who 
 have never strayed from their true Shepherd, that it 
 * Romans xv. ver. 24 — 28. 
 
of the Vaudois. 11 
 
 Were pity that the interest shbuld be weakened by any 
 want of confirmation of the fact. This interest, how- 
 ever, will be infinitely increased by the knowledge of the 
 dreadful miseries inflicted on those who thus preserved 
 that creed, the purity of which alone could have pro- 
 duced the spirit necessary to support them. Such are 
 the horrors of the persecutions with which the Vaudois 
 were visited, that to detail them would raise terror rather 
 than pity. To say that neither sex nor age were spared, 
 would be a palliation of the cruelties alluded to. Beauty, 
 or softness, or old age, or any thing else that had a ten- 
 dency to create the milder affections, seem to have acted 
 only as excitements to barbarous ingenuity. The most 
 disgusting cruelties, in the records of any time or nation, 
 were rivalled, if not surpassed. Those who have seen 
 Leger's too well-authenticated accounts of these things, 
 and the plates representing them, well know the truth of 
 this statement. The book is in this country ; and such 
 as desire to be more amply convinced, may see copies of it 
 in the libraries of Cambridge and. the British Museum. 
 While the Papal See was yet struggling with monarchs 
 for the completion of its boundless ambition, the Vaudois 
 owed to their insignificance a comparative tranquillity. 
 They even appear to have afforded refuge to the Albi- 
 genses *, who had fled from the fury of Dominick, who 
 founded the inquisition at this time. Two or three bulls, 
 however, were in the mean time issued against them ; but 
 
 * A primitive Church of Langueiloc. 
 
12 ■ History and present Situation 
 
 their execution does not seem to have been enforced with 
 much vigilance. Soon, however, there appeared at 
 Turin a terrific offspring of the inquisition, bearing the 
 name of the " Counsel for the Propagation of Faith, 
 and the Extirpation of Heretics*." At first the persons 
 of individuals peculiarly obnoxious to this tribunal 
 were seized and carried off to dungeons in Turin, where, 
 having been first tortured, they were either secretly de- 
 stroyed as spectacles too shocking for exposure, or pub- 
 licly executed as examples of the holy zeal of their oppo- 
 nents, and of the fate awaiting those who should dare to 
 imitate their constancy. But this was a process too slow 
 and too partial to satisfy the unrelenting fury of the 
 Court of Rome. Bull after bull, and army after army, 
 issued forth to the devastation of the valleys^ the spirit of 
 which may be collected from the following specimen. In 
 1477, Innocent VIII. having commented on the heresies 
 of the Vaudois, <' commands . all archbishops, bishops, 
 vicars, 8(C. to obey his inquisitor, to render him assistance, 
 and to engage the people to take up arms with a view to 
 so holy and so necessary an extermination" Accordingly 
 he granted indulgences to all who would make a cru- 
 sade against the Vaudois, and full authority to apply to 
 their own use whatsoever property they could seize. 
 Animated by these spiritual and temporal stimulants, 
 18,000 regular troops, and 6000 uncommanded vaga- 
 bonds, burst upon the valleys ; and had not a feeling of 
 
 Concilium de Propaganda Fide et Exterpaudis Hereticis. 
 
of the. Vaudois. 13 
 
 compunction speedily visited their sovereign*, the work 
 of destruction would have probably been complete, and 
 his successors saved from the infamy of assisting in sub- 
 sequent transactions of the same character. Such was 
 the style of the persecutions, which, at small intervals, 
 and in different degrees, mark the whole history of this 
 suffering and faithful people, during the 15thj ; 16th, and 
 17th. centuries. Their own mild and affecting remon- 
 strances, their patience and unbroken loyalty, and (after 
 the Reformation) the intercession of the ministers of pro- 
 testant powers, procured them some few periods of re* 
 pose; but even these appeared to have served only to 
 refresh the fury of their persecutors. 
 
 In 1559 an edict was issued by Emanuel Philibert, 
 for the final extermination of the heresies and the heretics 
 of the valleys ; for this purpose the Count de la Trinite 
 was placed at the head of a considerable army, whose 
 thirst for booty and for blood was excited, according to 
 the laudable custom of those times, by assurances from 
 the papal see of pardon for the past, and indulgence? 
 for the future. 
 
 The resistance which the Vaudois had been by long, ex- 
 perience taught to render respectable was now unexampled* 
 Beared among lofty and rugged mountains, where death 
 may be said to. be, from his cradle, each man's nearest 
 neighbour, their personal courage and endurance of fa* 
 tigue were incredible, the holy, cause in which they were 
 
 * Philip VIL, Duke of Savoy. 
 
14 History and present Situation 
 
 engaged supplied them with inexhaustible patience, 
 and the certainty of a death of torture, should they 
 fall into the hands of their enemies, added desperation to 
 these qualities.- — The women, the aged, and the children, 
 were concealed in caverns, which became regular places 
 of abode, while the rest of the population deserting the 
 lower and more exposed tracts defended the less acces- 
 sible valleys with the utmost skill and obstinacy. The 
 obstacles to approach, so abundant in mountainous 
 countries, were heightened with an art worthy of re- 
 gular engineers; every rock was a fort, and every 
 mountain-top a watch-tower; and when the assailants 
 had waded through the blood of their comrades to the 
 extremities of the valleys, they found only a more certain 
 destruction, in their exposure to the fire of the moun- 
 taineers, now driven among heights whence it was im- 
 possible" to dislodge them. Among the most celebrated 
 of these fastnesses is the Pra del Tor, at the upper end 
 of the Valleys of Angrogna, which, where it is abruptly 
 closed by the noble mountain of that name, swells out 
 into a circle, to which, in those times, there was only one 
 pass practicable for an armed force. — Here, whatever 
 were their reverses elsewhere, the Vaudois never failed to 
 make a stand. Attack was repeated on attack; followed 
 always by ruin and disgrace, till at last the very name 
 became a signal 'of desertion among the terrified soldiery. 
 This sanguinary war was carried on till the rigours of an 
 Alpine winter compelled the Count de la Trinite to re- 
 
of the Vaudois. 15 
 
 tire to the plains ; but as early as February the conflict 
 was renewed with increased fury arid cruelty, and the 
 same ultimate . results. . The helpless to the caverns of 
 Castel Luzzo,* the rest to the Pra del, Tor, and de- 
 struction to their relentless assailants, became sounds 
 portentous to the Vaudois of victory more than alarm. 
 It was not, however, till the following June, that the 
 Duke of Savoy, influenced by his continual losses and 
 the desertion of the soldiery, and also by the entreaties 
 of his Duchess Marguerite, once more restored tranquil- 
 lity to the valleys, a tranquillity yet again to be disturbed 
 by a still ruder shock, and to be recovered by still more 
 wonderful and admirable efforts. The effect of this war 
 was dreadful in the general ruin which it entailed on the 
 Vaudois, and hence, for the first time, they appear to 
 have been objects of pecuniary relief to other protestant 
 
 * There are two or three rocks in the valleys of. this name, and 
 which served for the same purpose. The most famous is near La 
 Tour, rising- immediately above the Church of Copia, at about 800 
 feet above the valley, of which the upper 200 are positively per- 
 pendicular. On the very summit is the entrance to one cavern, 
 which has many ramifications, some of which open on the sides of 
 the mountain. On the perpendicular face and about 30 feet from 
 the summit is the entrance to another. This was first approached 
 by two or three men who climbed down a projecting angle of the 
 rock, like the outside corner of a chimney, and then arranged a 
 pulley by which the rest were hoisted up, as were also provisions. 
 It is said that as many as three hundred persons were secreted here 
 at a time ; there are still fragments of brick- work to be found there, 
 of which their ovens were made. 
 
16 History and present Situation 
 
 states, whoge constant protection at the court of Turin 
 availed much in preventing persecutions of the same ex- 
 tent for a considerable period. In 1650, the Inquisition 
 again shewed signs of pregnancy with evils of the same 
 horrible cast, and in 1655 they burst forth in tremendous 
 maturity. The Marquess of Pianessa approached at 
 the head of 15,000 men, and when repulsed in the two 
 first attacks, had recourse to treachery which proved too 
 fatally successful. He proposed peace to the simple 
 Vaudois if they would comply with the commands of 
 their government by removing from some parts of the 
 plain, and required, as a proof of their obedience, that 
 they would quarter during a short time in each commune 
 a regiment of infantry and two companies of cavalry* 
 The Vaudois unsuspectingly complied, but scarcely had 
 they dispersed themselves and arrived at their respective 
 homes, before they found that all the passes were se- 
 cured; resistance was, of course, impossible, and for 
 several successive days every being that could be seized 
 was tortured and destroyed. The massacre which thus 
 took place was, perhaps, the most revolting that ever 
 disgraced civilized Europe. Still the courage of the 
 Vaudois was unsubdued: the remnant which escaped 
 embodied themselves under the command of some hardy 
 chiefs, and carried on against their tormenters a de- 
 structive partisan warfare. The indignation of the pro- 
 testant powers was now expressed in a most decided tone, 
 and by none more decidedly than by Cromwell, who 
 
of the Vaudois. , 17 
 
 insinuated in no very indirect terms his determination, if 
 necessary, to support his remonstrance by force. What 
 would -have been the effect of 30,000 Round-heads, so far 
 advanced in the neighbourhood of Her of Babylon, it 
 may be difficult to determine ; but that they would have 
 found themselves there, had not the Protector died, ap- 
 pears by no means improbable. The Duke of Savoy, 
 thus compelled for a time to restore peace to the Vaudois, 
 revenged himself by restricting ; them to a much smaller 
 space than they had hitherto occupied, and by enacting a 
 law (still in force), by which they, are incapacitated from 
 holding possessions in any other part of his dominions. 
 Their immediate wants were nobly supplied by the 
 liberality of other states. In England a collection was 
 made on their behalf which amounted to nearly 40,000/. 
 of which more than 20,000/. was immediately transmitted 
 through the hands of commissioners; the remainder of 
 this sum constituted a fund, the yearly interest of which 
 was to have been perpetually applied to the support of 
 their churches,, and the maintenance of their ministers and 
 schoolmasters. With what right this has been three 
 times withheld, and at this present time continues to be 
 so, will be matter for our subsequent consideration. 
 
 From this time to ^the year 1685, we find the 
 Vaudois enjoying comparative tranquillity ; but in 
 this year commenced a train of events the most re- 
 markable on the records of modern history, both as 
 to their progress and their result. Louis XIV., having 
 
18 History and present Situation 
 
 revoked the Edict of Nantes, and not content with 
 dragooning the Protestants in his own territories, pre- 
 vailed with Victor Amadeus II., after much persuasion, 
 not unattended with menace, to make another effort to 
 force the Vaudois to resign their creed, offering at the 
 same time to furnish him with 14,000 French troops. In 
 the following year operations were commenced, which are 
 thus related in Henri Arnaud's preface to his " Histoire 
 de la Glorieuse Rentree" : — " The Vaudois were ordered 
 under pain of death to destroy their chuTches, and to 
 take their children to be baptized in those of the Papists. 
 These poor innocent sheep, surprised as they were, hav- 
 ing in vain endeavoured, by several supplications, to 
 obtain a revocation of so cruel a decree, resolved in case 
 of any attempts on their lives or liberties on account of 
 their consciences, by no means to abandon their country, 
 but to continue their worship, and defend themselves after 
 the manner of their forefathers. Their prince, who did 
 not expect such a resolution, nor any resistance, and did 
 not feel himself sufficiently strong, being piqued upon a 
 point of honour, accepted the offered aid of France. 
 The Vaudois put themselves on the defensive, and were 
 attacked on the 23d of April, 1686. The French, com- 
 manded by M. de Catinat, were desirous of the honour 
 of striking the first blow, and did so on the side of St. 
 Germain ; but they had also the honour of being well 
 beaten; for they were dislodged with so much spirit from 
 the positions they had taken up, that they were obliged 
 
of the Vaudois. 19 
 
 to seek their safety in flight, to pass the Clusone in con- 
 fusion without gaining the bridge, and to retreat to Pig- 
 nerbl. The number they lost in wounded and dead in 
 this first action never was known, for they took care to 
 conceal it, and to carry their wounded into the town 
 during the night. It was found out, however, a few 
 days afterwards, that the regiments of Provence, of the 
 Dauphin, of Plessis and Clerambaud, as well as the 
 dragoons of Provence and Lalande, had been very severely 
 handled ; yet it is true that the Vaudois had only two 
 wounded, and these at the church of St. Germain j into 
 which M. de Villevielle had thrown himself with a 
 strong detachment. He knows what that affair cost him, 
 of which' there is some account; but, as it has not'been 
 made public, people may be glad to hear that after the 
 French were driven from the positions taken up above 
 St. Germain, M. de Villevielle saved himself in the 
 church, where he was immediately invested by the Vau- 
 dois. M. Arriaud arriving at this moment with a 
 small detachment, immediately gave orders to get upon 
 the roof of the church and to throw down the tiles of it 
 on the enemy within, while at the same time they encom- 
 passed it with ditches to let the water in and drown them. 
 This order was instantly obeyed, but those who were 
 employed on it being surprised by the night, the execu. 
 tion of it was checked, v and M. de Villevielle and his 
 troops made their escape from a window. As the Vau- 
 dois beat the French on the first day, so the day following 
 
 C2 
 
20 History and present Situation 
 
 they had the glory of stopping short the army of the 
 Duke of Savoy on the heights of Angrogna. One, would 
 have thought that two such glorious days would have 
 raised the courage of the victors ; but unhappily, and by 
 a fatality altogether unaccountable, these people, who 
 at first appeared so intrepid in the support of this war, 
 after the example of their forefathers who had. sur- 
 mounted thirty-two wars for the sake of the same reli- 
 gion, became suddenly enervated, and with frozen hearts 
 laid down their arms on the third day, surrendering them- 
 selves meanly to the discretion of the Duke of Savoy, 
 who in triumph over this meanness did them the. favour 
 to shut them up in thirteen prisons, of Piemont, and thus 
 extinguished at one blow the flames of this war, not by 
 the blood of the Vaudois, but by their unhoped-for sub- 
 mission." 
 
 A more singular or abrupt anomaly in any character, 
 individual or national, than this sacrifice by the Vaudois 
 of all held most dear by them, was never presented to 
 the consideration of the philosophical historian. It could 
 not originate from fear, for they were yet warm with their 
 victorious exertions; bribery it could not be, for one 
 single night only intervened between the unanimous shout 
 to successful battle, and the unopposed offer of shameless 
 surrender ; certain it is, however, that this transaction is 
 an essential link in the chain of circumstances, which 
 ended in the most glorious enterprise . that the head of 
 man ever dared to plan, or his heart and hand to execute. 
 
of the Vaudois. 21 
 
 Immediately on this surrender, instead of being per- 
 mitted (as had been promised to them) to quit the 
 Duke's territories, the entire population, amounting, ac- 
 cording to Arnaud, to 14,000 persons*, were thrown 
 into suffocating dungeons ; 11,000 rapidly perished either 
 by disease, or the hands of the executioner ; the remain- 
 ing 3000 were banished, so that, literally, not one Pro- 
 testant voice was lifted up in the valleys of Piemont ! 
 Well might it be thought that the lamp of the Vaudois 
 church was extinguished for ever ! 
 
 Their possessions were divided between their persecu- 
 tors and a colony of Irish, who had fled from their 
 country during the usurpation of Cromwell. The wreck 
 from the prisons was received with " the greatest tender- 
 ness" at Geneva, and by the Swiss Cantons, but many 
 perished on the road, exhausted by their previous suffer- 
 ings. Scattered among the towns and villages of Berne, 
 industrious in their habits, and venerated and loved by 
 their protectors, the survivors might have led a life of 
 comfort, had they not been rendered restless by the love 
 of their native country, so peculiarly strong in moun- 
 taineers. Several of the German princes, and especially 
 the Elector of Brandenburgh, offered them lands and 
 protection ; but more distant removal from their country 
 did not accord with their secret intentions. In fact, they 
 made two fruitless efforts to depart in a body from 
 Switzerland, the latter of which so nearly embroiled the 
 
 * According to others, to J 7,000. 
 
22 History, and ■ present Situation 
 
 Canton of Berne with the Puke of. Savoy, that the 
 Swiss withdrew their protection. About 800 of them 
 accepted the offer of the Duke of Brandenburgh, and 
 resigned^ for ever, the hope of returning to their own 
 country ; while the rest, not yet utterly despairing, be- 
 took themselves to the Palatinate, where, however, they 
 were so well accommodated, that, settled into the expec- 
 tation of a harvest of their own sowing, on ground 
 allotted to them for their own, they began to relinquish 
 their favourite idea, when it was suddenly roused into 
 force and action by the agency of their most inveterate 
 enemy. 
 
 In the commencement of 1689, Louis XIV. deter- 
 mined to free his border from danger on the German 
 side, by laying waste the Palatinate. In what cruel per- 
 fection this design was accomplished, is even yet marked 
 by many a noble ruin. It was clear to the Vaudois,- that 
 this was no place for them : the Swiss again pitied and 
 received them ; and in the August of the same year, 
 they collected, in the forest of Nyon, to the number of 
 800, and on the night of the 15th, crossed the lake of 
 Geneva, under the command of one of their pastors, 
 (Henry Arnaud,) to commence a march of nearly 200 
 miles over a mountainous and hostile country, for the 
 purpose of attacking the united forces of France and 
 Savoy, of expelling the usurpers of their hearths, and 
 recovering the possession to themselves. Skirting the 
 Meilleury Alps on the left, theydropped into the valley of 
 
of the Vaudois. 23 
 
 the Arve, below Gluses, and passing through Salenches 
 and Contamines, crossed the Gol de Bonhomme, and 
 fell into the valley of the Isere at Bourg St. Maurice; 
 pursuing the course of this river to Mont Iseran, they 
 crossed that, mountain, descended to the Arcque at Bon- 
 neval, left it again at Lans le Villard, near Lanslebourg, 
 and ascended Mont Cenis. In order to avoid Susa, 
 which was strongly garrisoned, they filed to the right, 
 intending to cross the Dora, at Chaumont, between Susa 
 and Exiles. Hitherto they had not met with any 
 serious opposition, but now they were so severely attacked 
 in a narrow pass on the Jaillon, a little stream which joins 
 the Dora just above Susa, that they resolved to keep the 
 heights on the right bank of the Dora, and force its pas- 
 sage at the bridge of Salabertran, above Exiles. Here 
 they were opposed by tha Marquess of Larrey, and 
 2400 regular troops ; they attacked him. without hesita- 
 tion, and so completely beat him, that twelve captains, 
 several other officers, and 60Q privates were left dead on 
 the field, and the marquess de Larrey was dangerously 
 wounded, and carried on a litter to Briancon. . Then- 
 own loss in; killed is recorded to have been only fourteen ! 
 Well may Arnaud, the historian of these things, remark 
 that " not only the hand of God fought with them, but 
 that it seemed to have blinded their enemies*." Allowing 
 
 * Arnaud kept a. journal of this extrordinary war, which was 
 afterwards published under the title 6f " L'Histoire de la glorieuse 
 rentree des Vaudois dans leur Vallees," This book is exceedingly 
 
24 History and present Situation 
 
 time neither for triumph nor repose, and in the full con- 
 viction that their courage and confidence in God were to 
 be exposed to yet harder trials, . they immediately as- 
 cended the opposite mountain of Sci, though the battle 
 had already occupied part of the night. Those who are 
 not acquainted with lofty mountains, can scarcely appre- 
 ciate the perseverance necessary to surmount them, and 
 those who have had this experience, will scarcely, believe 
 that after an eight days' forced march, in such a country, 
 ended by a. desperate battle, men should yet undertake, 
 by moonlight, so difficult an ascent. It is one of the 
 steepest and most painful in the nature of the ground, 
 there being, even to this day, no beaten path, and the 
 zone of the mountain being girdled with an immense 
 forest of low supple under-wood, the long close branches 
 of which he like ropes parallel to the ground, so that the 
 walker is as it were in a broken net. On the following 
 morning, they descried the summits of their own native 
 mountains, and collecting together, they joined in thanks- 
 giving to God for the sight, and in prayer for his 
 protection in their further progress. 
 
 They then descended into the valley of the Clusone, 
 pushed on to the highest village on the Col de Pis ; and 
 
 scarce, and it is supposed that there are not more than eight or 
 nine copies of it. One of these is in the possession of the writer of 
 this pamphlet, who intends to have a translation of it printed, with 
 engraving-s of some of the spots most celebrated in it, from sketches 
 made by himself, for the purpose, during' the last summer. 
 
of the Vaudois. 25 
 
 on the following morning, having routed a detachment of 
 the enemy who were in possession of the heights, they 
 entered into their own land as glorious victors, whence 
 they had departed little more than three years before as 
 despised prisoners. Without entering into a more mi- 
 nute detail than is compatible with the view of this 
 pamphlet, it is impossible to lead the reader to a con- 
 ception of the romantic nature of the war which these 
 people sustained till the arrival of winter, now their only 
 earthly ally. They were felt everywhere, yet to be 
 found nowhere ; they were constantly divided, and 
 ever uniting ; they bivouacked among the snows and 
 roeks for fear of their enemies, yet their enemies deserted 
 the villages for fear of .them; apparently incapable of 
 shewing themselves to their opponents, they reaped a 
 great part of the harvest in spite of them ; they more than 
 once effected a slaughter in one day greater in number 
 than their own collected force; and, finally, they in- 
 trenched themselves in a noble and most beautiful moun- 
 tain, whence they regularly descended to grind their 
 corn at two mills, while within a few leagues lay an army 
 of 22,000 men, who thought themselves never secure 
 from attack while ditch or palisade was left incomplete. 
 The winter was thus passed by them in dear-bought se- 
 curity. In the ensuing spring, as soon as the passes 
 were practicable, Marshal Catinat invested their natural 
 fort on every side, and ordered an attack on the 2d of 
 May, the success of which appeared to admit of no 
 
26 History and present Situation 
 
 doubt. It was made with the utmost gallantry ; but re- 
 pulsed with a dreadful slaughter of the French. The 
 Balsi, or the mountain " des quatre dents," (for such is 
 the name of this celebrated roek) is situated at the ex- 
 tremity of the valley of St. Martin. Between two tor- 
 rents, whose dark and rocky channels unite in a narrow 
 angle at the foot of it, it rises in a magnificent cone, 
 forming a sort of spire at the end of a long and narrow 
 ridge; on this spire there are three pinnacles one above 
 the other, which, in the sharpness of their rocks and the 
 bold projection of the pines which adorn them, serve 
 well to complete the architectural images of fineal and of 
 Crockett. Each of these was separately intrenched by a 
 ditch, and trees covered with huge stones 5 and the habi- 
 tations were excavated in the ground. There is only 
 one approach, and that is very abrupt. After his failure, 
 Marshal Catinat resigned the command to Feuquieres. 
 This officer proceeded indefatigabry ; he caused each 
 soldier to make a large faggot, proof against musket 
 ball, under cover of which they made slow but sure ad- 
 vances, intrenching themselves securely each day on what- 
 ever ground they gained. A battery was erected on the 
 opposite mountain, before which the ramparts of the 
 Vaudois instantly disappeared, so that on the 13th day all 
 was ready for a last and overwhelming attack on the 
 highest pinnacle. Mules had been brought up loaded 
 with gibbets and halters, and the whole country was in- 
 vited to witness the execution of the last of the Vaudois. 
 
of the Vaudois. 27 
 
 At day-break, on the ensuing morning, the French 
 sounded the qharge : not a shot was returned, .the only 
 remaining post was carried, but not a Vaudois was to be 
 found. This gallant remnant was first discovered re- 
 treating over the snowy summit of the Guignevert, far 
 out of the reach of their disappointed foe. They had 
 escaped during the night by precipices hitherto deemed 
 impracticable, and therefore unguarded. And even in this 
 they could not have succeeded, on account of the short- 
 ness of the night, had they not been providentially assisted 
 by a heavy fog two hours before the time of sunset. For 
 the space of another month they were engaged in many 
 bloody encounters^ defending themselves successfully in 
 the neighbourhood of the Pra del Tor, the asylum of 
 their forefathers in many a previous persecution. A pe- 
 riod at last arrived to this extraordinary struggle. The 
 lions, who had united their force for the destruction of 
 this little flock, quarrelled among themselves ; and Vio 
 tor Amadeus, their natural sovereign, found no diffi- 
 culty in reconciling them to his service ; and having con- 
 firmed them in their reconquered possessions, not only 
 reaped the fruit of their extraordinary courage as sol- 
 diers, but confided his own person to their loyalty and 
 protection, when a fugitive from his besieged capital. 
 Once more -seated on his throne, to which circumstance 
 this gallant people, by his own confession, had in no 
 small measure contributed, his treatment of them is one of 
 the foulest instances of dishonour and ingratitude. The 
 
28 History and present Situation 
 
 governor of Pignerol was instructed to receive their oaths 
 of allegiance, and to promise, to them all, perfect tran- 
 quillity in their valleys; while at the same moment he was 
 furnished with an order for the banishment of a part. 
 This part comprised all those who were not born within 
 the limits to which they had been restricted by the last 
 edict issued before the massacre in the prisons. As this 
 decree was treacherous in its conception, so was its execu- 
 tion inhuman : for an order given to the poor wanderers 
 for provisions on their journey through Savoy, was taken 
 away from them at the top of Mount Cenis, by couriers 
 sent after them for the purpose. These ill-treated exiles, 
 after receiving great kindness in Switzerland, established 
 themselves in Wirtemburg, and are the founders of the 
 Waldenses of that country, and most, if not all of their vil- 
 lages, still bear the names of different spots in the valleys 
 of Piemont, once so dear to them. Those who were per- 
 mitted to remain on their native soil, formed the noble 
 stock whence have descended the Vaudois, whose cause 
 is now advocated *. 
 
 Having thus, it is hoped, redeemed the pledge wliich 
 was given at the commencement, as to the interest which 
 would result from a brief consideration of the antiquity 
 of the doctrine professed by these people, of their suffer- 
 
 * It should be remarked, that the 800 individuals who had thus 
 returned were all fighting- men, and that they were afterwards 
 joined by their wives and children, and also by many of their scat- 
 tered countrymen, who, on hearing of this glorious rentree, left the 
 countries in which they had been sojourning. 
 
of the Vaudois. 29 
 
 itigs in support of it, and the unparalleled and almost mi- 
 raculous efforts elicited by those sufferings, it is time to 
 give a short statement of their present condition, which 
 will be found such as well accords with the sympathy 
 which was so munificently expressed by our forefathers, 
 and such as merits a continuance of it from ourselves. 
 It should be remembered that the edict, which confirmed 
 the fathers of this Protestant family in the country which 
 they had so wonderfully reconquered, was issued only in 
 the last century. For this is one among other causes of 
 their present extreme poverty ; it being evidently impos- 
 sible that wealth should originate and accumulate in so 
 short a time, among people possessed only of a mountain 
 district, and strangers to manufacture. This circumstance 
 will also account for the intermixture of Roman Catholics, 
 for, after the rentree, there remained many possessions, 
 of which the original proprietors were no longer to be 
 found. The period which has since elapsed possesses no 
 historical interest, excepting one brilliant gleam of prospe- 
 rity during the meteor reign of Napoleon, who raised the 
 Vaudois to a community of civil rights of every sort, and 
 their pastors to an equality of provision with the Roman 
 Catholic clergy. Replaced, however, by the congress of 
 Verona*, under their ancient Sovereigns, they again 
 
 * It is matter of regret, that those powers, to whose influence the 
 King of Sardinia owes the greater part of his present Piemontese 
 and Savoyard possessions, should not have interested themselves 
 about these people at this time, especially as these powers were Pro- 
 testant, and could have commanded their own terms. It is said that 
 
30 History and present Situation 
 
 became victims of an oppression, now doubly galling 
 from the cohtrast of their short-lived prosperity. They 
 are again restricted to the ancient limits ; their pastors 
 are deprived of their increased salaries ; those employed 
 as public functionaries have been deposed ; they are ren- 
 dered incapable of any rank, military or civil ; they are 
 excluded from the professions of law and physic, except 
 as apothecaries or attorneys, and even in these hum- 
 bler capacities they must confine themselves to their own 
 valleys; they are forbidden to work on the Roman 
 Catholic holidays, a very severe hardship during the har- 
 vest of a mountainous country : they are not allowed to 
 build houses for their pastors, nor to rebuild decayed 
 churches, nor even to change the situation of either*; 
 
 the Prussian Minister, the Cpmte de Truchsass, and Lord William 
 Bentinck, made representations on the subject; but as they were 
 riot supported by a leading- Protestant personage at the Congress, 
 the King of Sardinia felt himself at liberty to follow his own 
 inclinations. 
 
 * The church of Pomaret was, from its vicinity to a mill-stream, 
 exposed to floods, and, consequently, extremely unwholesome. 
 Assisted by the liberality of the Emperor Alexander, the com- 
 mune found means sufficient to remove it. During three years 
 their application for permission to do so was constantly refused, 
 though backed by the weight of the Prussian Minister, who has 
 at last, and with great difficulty, succeeded in obtaining it. Nearly 
 the same difficulty has occurred with respect to the building a house 
 for the pastor of Prarustin. 
 
 The front of the church of St. Jean is concealed by a large 
 wooden screen, which the Vaudois were allowed as a favour to 
 erect, instead of being compelled to destroy the church altogether. 
 
of the Vaudois. 31 
 
 they have been obliged to erect large screens before their 
 churches, that a sight so offensive to their Roman Catholic 
 brethren might be removed, who do not form a fortieth 
 part of the population : in short they are subject to all the 
 vexations which the bigotry of more enlightened times 
 can venture to inflict. Yet such is the character of 
 these people, such is the effect of a purer religion, that 
 though suffering under evils whose only cause is to be 
 found in the despotic authority of their sovereign, in 
 the late attempt at revolution, which had in view a con- 
 stitution that would have removed from them every vexa- 
 tion, not a Vaudois was to be found who raised his hand 
 or his voice against that dynasty, under which it had 
 pleased God to place him. 
 
 Among the most serious oppressions under which they 
 labour, and "which has not yet been mentioned, is that of 
 being refused admission into any hospital, unless they 
 shall renounce their religion. 
 
 In a mountainous country in a southern latitude, ex- 
 treme changes in climate, with a proportionate quantity 
 of illness, necessarily occur ; and such countries are also 
 exposed to an unusual portion of accidents. It is no 
 astonishing accident that a man should break his limbs by 
 slipping over a precipice, while mowing the grass which 
 he cultivates on its edge ; or that in winter, if he ventures 
 to market to buy or sell, he should encounter the horrors 
 of an avalanche. This may appear to some to be high 
 colouring, but the writer, in only a five weeks' residence 
 
32 History and' present Situation 
 
 amongst these very mountains, himself saw instances of 
 the first sort, and heard of several of the other kind, 
 which had taken place during the previous winter. He 
 has seen a little plot of ground, not containing more than 
 twenty square yards, that has been mowed at the decided 
 risk of a man's life. He carefully examined the approach 
 to such a spot above the Pra del Tor, and his guide, who 
 had been a chasseur, allowed that he would not have 
 dared to attempt it. Nor is it cupidity (to which no 
 people are more perfect strangers), but it is a galling 
 necessity which compels this apparently extravagant and 
 dangerous cultivation. An increasing population must 
 evidently soon exceed the means of actual existence in 
 their restricted limits, as it has in. fact exceeded the 
 means of comfortable support. Their marketable com- 
 modities are too few to afford the means of buying what 
 they cannot grow. Some silk-worms, mulberry leaves 
 for their food, and a very little wine are the products of 
 the most fruitful part which can be brought into the mar- 
 ket. In the larger and more mountainous district, some 
 calves, butter, and cheese are their only saleable articles, 
 and the money thus produced is scarcely sufficient to pro- 
 cure clothing and pay. the imposts. The forests supply 
 charcoal in some communes, but this is a public income, 
 and expended on public objects, such as churches, bridges, 
 roads, fyc. The system of division of property is also in- 
 jurious to their real interest. A farm, which two gene- 
 rations ago, was amply sufficient for the wants of its 
 
of the Vaudois. 33 
 
 possessor, when divided among the several members of the 
 present one, yields scarcely a bare subsistence to- its dif- 
 ferent owners. Another serious evil is attached to this 
 circumstance, for as the land which each man occupies 
 demands his daily labour, and yet does not always require 
 the whole of Jt, he has labour to spare for which there 
 is no demand, as his neighbours are in the same circum- 
 stances as he is. During the harvest, indeed, when fine 
 weather is precarious,' it is advisable to collect some force, 
 but then the neighbours unite to work on one little crop, 
 and are'paid again in the same^kind. Thus every man, not 
 having money to buy, endeavours to force the soil in his 
 possession, contrary, perhaps, to its nature, to produce 
 his necessary food ; and hence the practice in the higher 
 regions of cultivating the smallest spots, even at the risk 
 of broken limbs; for the chance of these is surely pre- 
 ferable to certain starvation. It is no uncommon cir- 
 cumstance, among the most romantic rocks, to meet 
 ■with a little crop of barley, that seems as if transported 
 there by enchantment. A spot level enough to hold 
 the soil when carried there, and a lofty crag to protect 
 it from the wind, supply sufficient stimulus for this ex- 
 ertion ;' and many acres of hay are cut, which cannot be 
 carried down to the hamlets till snow enough has fallen 
 to level the intervening obstacles. 
 
 Some idea of their poverty may be formed from their 
 idea of riches. He is considered a man at his ease, " un 
 bon particulier," who can raise corn enough for his family. 
 He who has to spare is rich ; and a capital of 20,000 
 
34> History and present Situation 
 
 francs (little more than 800?.) is a very rare portion of 
 wealth. In this state of poverty, and in this total want 
 of relief in cases of illness or accidents, they attracted the 
 consideration of some benevolent persons, who undertook 
 to raise a subscription among their fellow Protestants in 
 other countries, for the, purpose of erecting an hospital 
 in the valleys, that should be attended by a Protestant 
 establishment. 
 
 .The Emperor Alexander immediately placed 12,000 
 francs in the hands of their best friend, the Comte de 
 Truchssass, premier envoye* of Prussia at the court of 
 Turin, who, using all the influence of his court, with 
 difficulty obtained permission from the Sardinian govern- 
 ment for such an establishment, though at the expense 
 of strangers : the trials of illness, and the influence of 
 physicians by the side of a sick-bed, were deemed suc- 
 cours to the Roman Catholic cause too effectual to be 
 readily resigned. In this country more than 3000/. has 
 been already collected; and as we indisputably have 
 more Protestant wealth (and it is hoped not less Pro- 
 testant feeling) than any other part of Europe, it is 
 trusted that much more will be contributed, when 
 the merits and the wants of the Vaudois are better 
 known. 
 
 Upon the most moderate calculation, it would require 
 12,500/. as a fund, to produce an income adequate to 
 the annual expense of a sufficient hospital. This com- 
 putation supposes the total expense of the establishment, 
 in and out of doors, to be at a ratio of 25/. a year to 
 
of the Vaudois. 35 
 
 each sick bed, and the allowance of one sick bed to each 
 thousand of the population*. 
 
 A building for the purpose has been bought in the com- 
 mune of La Tour, and an establishment of five or six 
 beds commenced with their present means, which now 
 amount, including the contributions of other countries as 
 well as our own, to about 6000J. Should a sufficient 
 subscription be made to allow the direction of some part 
 of it to, the relief of other wants than illness, we may en- 
 joy the proud satisfaction, not only of diminishing misery 
 which has been endured in the support of a pure religion, 
 but also in defending that religion against some of the 
 sharpest weapons of its adversaries. 
 
 In every commune, however small may be the Catholic 
 population, are one or more Catholic curates, who, stimu- 
 lated by the hope of the mitre, are indefatigable in the 
 work of conversion. Pastoral letters, too, from the 
 Bishop of Pignerol, with a variety of tracts, are con- 
 tinually circulated among them ; while the pastors, pro- 
 hibited from the press, are compelled to a silence which 
 is misconstrued by their adversaries into weakness. 
 Moreover, sums of money, amounting in some cases to 
 500 "francs, 1 " are at the disposal of the Bishop, as a 
 bribe to the unprincipled, and a lure to the wavering. 
 
 * It is proposed, that, in cases where the patient cannot be re- 
 moved to the hospital, a certain allowance shall be made out of the 
 funds for his relief and that the expenses of removal also should 
 be paid out of the same fund, according; to a regular tarif. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 History and present Situation 
 
 The instances of conversion are, it is true, very rare, 
 and confined to the worthless and the ignorant*. Yet it 
 is desirable that no efficient means should be neglected 
 to prevent them. Among the foremost of these is to be 
 ranked education ; and, in fact, no pains are spared on 
 this subject. Every commune has its great school, and 
 every quartier or hamlet its little school ; but the salaries 
 of the regents or schoolmasters are so small, that too 
 large a portion of their time is necessarily taken up in 
 labouring for their bread. 
 
 More education, too, is necessary here, than in other 
 countries. French must be taught, as the language 
 through which all public divine instruction is conveyed ; 
 and not only must the principles of religion be instilled, 
 but the reasoning by which his own creed is supported 
 must be well developed in the peasant, who is exposed 
 to the seductions of casuistry and bribery. Great and 
 obvious advantages will be derived from the distribution 
 of bibles, and other useful books, which are utterly be- 
 yond their reach, unless introduced from other countries 
 gratuitously. The salary of the regents is derived al- 
 most entirely from the beneficence of the Walloon church 
 in Holland; and a small addition to it would enable 
 them to devote their whole time to their pupils. 
 
 * A peasant, whose daughter had been converted, thus express- 
 ed himself to the writer, when speaking of the circumstance- 
 "Whenever I hear the bells of the chapel, every stroke pierces my 
 heart for the sake of my dear stray daughter." 
 
of the Vaudois. 37 
 
 There is also a classical school at la Tour, supported 
 by the same benefactors, and now under the direction of 
 a very able scholar. It is here that those destined to the 
 office of pastors are prepared for the universities of Lau- 
 sanne and Geneva, where they are supported by small 
 pensions, (about 201. a year,) contributed by the Pro- 
 testant cantons of Switzerland. It would be highly ad- 
 vantageous, in every point of view, if this system could 
 be superseded by a college of their own. The students 
 would be saved from a painful journey, would be no 
 longer separated from their parents at a dangerous age, 
 nor would they be exposed to the schismatic contagion 
 of the Swiss churches. On this last point, however, it 
 cannot be too expressly stated, that not a single instance 
 has hitherto occurred of the slightest deviation from the 
 purity of their ancient doctrine. The Scriptures, in 
 their plain and natural interpretation, as handed down 
 from father to son, are their only acknowledged rule 
 both of doctrine and practice. 
 ' Being thus brought to a consideration of their pastors, 
 a more minute account of these most exemplary men will 
 not be found uninteresting. 
 
 Each commune is considered a parish, and is termed, se- 
 parately, a church. They are sixteen in number, and served 
 by thirteen pastors, so that there are three pastors, who 
 have each two churches. The term annex is applied to the 
 second church ; thus Rpdoret is the annex to Prali, Macel 
 toManeille,andRocheplatte to Prarustin. Angrognaand 
 
38 History and present Situation 
 
 Vflleseche have also annexes, but in their own communes. 
 The churches are divided into four classes, according to the 
 disadvantage of situation, and the fatigue of their duties, 
 and their salaries are proportioned accordingly. 
 
 The highest authority in their church is that of the 
 synod, composed of all the pastors and elders, and pre- 
 sided over by the moderator. This cannot be convened 
 without permission from the government, nor proceed 
 without the attendance of the intendant of the district. 
 The precise end, for which it is to be convened, must also 
 be stated in the application for permission. 
 
 The next authority is that of the table, composed of 
 three pastors, including the moderator, and of two lay 
 members; their jurisdiction is derived from the synod, 
 and regulated by its articles ; the moderator, as head of 
 the church, transacts the whole of its general business, 
 visits the different churches, and performs other offices, 
 analogous to those of our bishops. 
 
 It appears, by the writings of many of their Romish 
 adversaries, that the Vaudois formerly used the term 
 episcopus as well as that of moderator. 
 
 Reinerius says, that the Waldenses of other countries 
 frequently sent their pastors to these bishops to be in- 
 structed, and that they (the bishops) were chosen from 
 the most learned and exemplary of their clergy. The 
 term is also to be found in some of their own confessions of 
 faith, as, for instance, in one preserved in Perrin's history, 
 in the fifth article of which they say, " We hold that 
 
of the Vaudois. 39 
 
 the ministers of the church, viz., the bishops and pastors, 
 should be irreproachable both in life and doctrine, and if 
 otherwise, that they ought to be deposed, and others 
 substituted in their place." Their own favourite argu- 
 ment, in support of the apostolic succession of their 
 ministers, viz., the imposition of hands, by Claude, 
 Bishop of Turin, implies an episcopal creed ; and so does 
 their dispute with the Pope, on the subject of his supre- 
 macy ; in which they contend that his authority is only 
 equal to that of other bishops. Commenius distinctly 
 states that the Bohemians sent three of their clergy to be 
 consecrated by a Waldensian bishop, Stephanus, who 
 was afterwards burnt at Vienna; and so generally re- 
 ceived is this fact, that it formed the principal ground for 
 the recognition of the Moravian, as an Episcopal church, 
 by the two houses of Parliament in this country. The 
 Moravians, indeed, assert that it was by means of this 
 consecration that the apostolic succession was preserved 
 to the reformed church of England. The many reverses 
 of the Vaudois church, the changes of their masters, the 
 destruction of their college at Angrogna, and the con- 
 sequent necessity of sending their students in divinity to 
 the Swiss academies, have led to the ordination of their pas- 
 tors at these places. For, certainly, it would be invidious 
 for the Vaudois to tell those who have been their generous 
 teachers in divinity, that they are unfit to complete their 
 own work. Could a college, however, be again esta- 
 
40 History and present Situation 
 
 Wished among them* the ancient discipline, in this respect, 
 would be restored. 
 
 They retain also the primitive appointment of deacons 
 for the distribution of alms. These are chosen from the 
 most respected of the elders. 
 
 A regular descent, as it is literally termed, for the 
 pastors, from the higher to the lower churches, is es- 
 tablished by an article of the synod. When a vacancy 
 occurs, supposing it to be a church of the fourth class, 
 the parishioners invite one of the third class to descend 
 to them. The parish left by him selects one from the 
 second class, whose place is filled up in the same man- 
 ner from the first, which vacancy is filled up from 
 among the young ministers, who may as yet have 
 no appointment. This latter appointment is vested in 
 the table. By this arrangement the churches in the higher 
 mountains are always served by the younger pastors, the 
 vigour of youth being indispensable for surmounting the 
 difficulties with which that service is attended. This 
 will readily be believed, when it is known that in these 
 communes no one can stir abroad in the winter without* 
 crampons *, and a long staff with an iron point to pre- 
 vent falls, which would almost always be fatal. The 
 passes between the churches of Rodoret and Prali, and 
 Macel and Maneille, are both dangerous in the winter, 
 not only from the nature of the slippery and narrow foot- 
 
 * Iron plates with spikes on them, which are buckled on the 
 feet, in order to give a hold on the frozen snow and ice. 
 
of the Paudois. 41 
 
 ing at the edge of precipices, but from the liability to 
 avalanches. In spite of these obstacles, whieh affect in 
 a greater or less degree every commune, the pastors are 
 indefatigable alike in the dangers of an Alpine winter, 
 and in the overwhelming heat of an Italian summer, in 
 their visits to all parts of their communes, whether to 
 comfort the sick, examine the schools, baptize infants, or 
 to impart private religious instruction. This last is a duty 
 in which they are peculiarly active ; every individual going 
 through a regular course of instruction from his pastor, 
 for at least three months previous to admission to the sa- 
 crament of the Lord's Supper. Two instances, related 
 to the writer by the individuals concerned, will illustrate 
 the hardships of their calling. A pastor at Prali, wish- 
 ing to baptize a child in a distant quartier of his com- 
 mune, was obliged to be attended by seven men with 
 hatchets to cut footing for him in the frozen snow ; and 
 the wife of another pastor, of the same place, on the 
 night of her accouchement, was carried about on her 
 bed from room to room, to avoid the fury of a neigh- 
 bouring torrent, suddenly swollen by the melting of 
 the snows. Nor did a day pass during the writer's resi- 
 dence with Mr. Bert, that he did not see that most 
 excellent and admirable pastor return from the perform- 
 ance of his duties in a state of exhaustion, scarcely known 
 by our common labourers. 
 
 All the pastors are learned, and some are eminently so ; 
 
42 History and present Situation 
 
 but it is a melancholy fact, that the usefulness and ele- 
 gance of their learning are not unfrequently lost in the sad 
 necessity of spending the little time left to them from pas- 
 toral duties, in providing for their earthly wants, and 
 that too by the same means as the poorest peasantry. 
 The late moderator Peyran was esteemed one of the 
 most accomplished scholars in Europe ; but the conse- 
 quence of devoting his time to literary pursuits has been, 
 that he died in debt, and left his children pennyless, one 
 of whom (Jules), two months ago, was working for his 
 bread in the lime quarries opposite to St. Germain. 
 Another most lamentable effect of this poverty among 
 the pastors is their inability to aid the physical wants of 
 their parishioners, excepting when they possess some in- 
 dependence of their own ; a circumstance of. rare occur- 
 rence, as fathers who have any thing to leave are seldom 
 inclined .tarring up their sons to so indigent a profession. 
 Their average incomes, after the deductions which are 
 made by their own regulations for the benefit of the 
 widows of pastors, and of those who have retired on 
 account of infirmity, may be stated at 40/. a year. 
 This income is derived partly from a sum collected for 
 that purpose in this country, in 1768, the interest of 
 which amounting to 2&91. is regularly paid by the 
 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
 Parts, under the name of the National Grant ; and partly 
 from a sum levied on the Vaudois themselves, under the 
 
of the Vaudois. 43 
 
 authority of their government. The whole of this, how- 
 ever, is not paid back to the pastors, about 900 francs a 
 year, being retained by the exchequer at Turin. 
 
 In a former page, allusion was made to another sum, — 
 the residue of a collection made in this country in the 
 time of Cromwell. There are official documents in the 
 State Paper Office, which prove that it was obtained 
 through the means of a brief ; it was, therefore, a free 
 gift from our fathers to the Vaudois. In Charles II.'s 
 time, this money was perverted from the purpose of its 
 donors to the use of the crown. Mary and William 
 repaid it by the establishment of a yearly pension of 
 i?500 ; this was withdrawn for awhile at William's death, 
 and again settled in the latter end of the reign of Queen 
 Anne. When Napoleon overran Italy, and the Vaudois 
 became subjects of an hostile power, it was deemed inex- 
 pedient to continue this subsidy,- 1 — a sacrifi<0certainly of 
 the principles of justice to those ef policy. The debt, 
 however, (for a debt it evidently is,) still remains due. 
 The King of England borrowed the money, and the King 
 of England still lives in a beloved and acknowledged 
 -succession. Could this case attract the consideration of 
 His Majesty's ministers, they would surely redeem the 
 crown and the country from the stain attached by it. 
 Were the principle once allowed, that any power is com- 
 petent to divert public contributions from the purposes of 
 those who have supplied them, our societies for the pro- 
 pagation of the gospel, Sfc. Sfc, and for the promotion 
 
44< History and present Situation 
 
 of christian knowledge, would no longer have any se. 
 curity. 
 
 It is satisfactory to know, that, whenever the restitu. 
 tion is made, the pastors (though to the prejudice of their 
 individual incomes) will lay apart a certain sum for the 
 maintenance of two more of their order, in the annexed 
 communes of Roderet and Macel. It should be observed, 
 that in a country like this, where so much labour is 
 requisite for the production of the necessaries of life, the 
 marriage state is indispensable to a class who are occu- 
 pied in other and more important pursuits than their own 
 domestic affairs; and the fact, in consequence, is, that 
 the pastors are, with one exception, married men ; and, 
 even in a mountainous country, £40 a year will but 
 poorly supply the wants of a family, especially where 
 the head of it is bound, in respect of nis profession, 
 to some care of his outward appearance. The restora- 
 tion of the royal pension, however, would be thought, by 
 themselves, a perfectly sufficient increase of their in- 
 comes. 
 
 It appears, then, that the three main wants of the 
 Vaudois, to which English benevolence may be directed, 
 are those of an hospital, of more efficient means of edu- 
 cation, and of a larger remuneration to the pastors ; and 
 let it be recollected, that this appeal, though unsup- 
 ported by the strong claim of fraternity of country, 
 possesses other merits of equal, perhaps of greater, 
 weight in the balance of discriminate benevolence. 
 
of the Vaudois. 45 
 
 For, as christian charity is a part of the christian reli^ 
 gion, so the strongest call on it must be that of misfor- 
 tune, which originates from Christianity itself in one of 
 its purest forms, and the relief of which tends to the ad- 
 vancement of the same Christianity. It has been shewn, 
 that, in this light, the Vaudois have the most pressing 
 claims on our sympathies and our succour. If they are 
 not our brothers in soil, they are our brothers in pure 
 religion, and our elder brothers too. If there be not a 
 community of worldly, there is one of heavenly, interests 
 between us, in support of which their example and suf- 
 ferings have been such as to leave us very largely in their 
 debt. And even according to the more immediate cal- 
 culations of mere moral philosophy, their claim upon our 
 gratitude is proportionately great ; for never has the noble 
 cause of mental independence been more undauntedly 
 maintained, — never has its power of resistance to human 
 tyranny been more stubbornly or more successfully demon- 
 strated, — never have a purer virtue and a warmer piety 
 been the results. The writer's limits will only allow him to 
 support the last remark by a few additional facts. Among 
 the most striking of these is the absence of drunkenness, 
 swearing, sexual profligacy, and that inordinate love of 
 gain, to the sacrifice of all honour and honesty, too fre- 
 quently met with among the neighbouring population. 
 They also are distinguished by a more respectful demea- 
 nour to their superiors ; more attention to cleanliness and 
 less to gaudy show;, more industry, and, singularly 
 
46 History and present Situation 
 
 enough, more loyalty to their sovereigns. Though the 
 writer mixed much in all their mountain habits, when 
 restraint is lost in common toils and hardships, he never 
 saw a drunken Vaudois, nor conversed with one addicted 
 to swearing ; he would almost venture to say, that he 
 never heard an oath. As far as he could learn, illegiti- 
 mate birth is unknown among them, and the whole of 
 bis short residence among them afforded one proof of 
 their disinterested hospitality, so uninterrupted, that it 
 would be invidious to mention particular instances, 
 striking as they were. Nor is it confined merely to the 
 frankness and pleasure with which they admit the 
 stranger to a share of their table or of their hearths, but the 
 poorest among them will perform for him offices of consi-, 
 derable toil, without any expectation of reward . Their vi- 
 tue in this respect is so superior to our own, that one exam- 
 ple of it shall be given. Towards the end of a long day's 
 journey, one of the writer's guides, who was a chamois 
 hunter, took his son from making charcoal to assist as 
 guide, in case of his own absence in pursuit of game. 
 This lad, after sleeping out all night on Mont Viso, in a. 
 temperature of frost, and continuing his services over the 
 central chain twice within the following day, actually left 
 the party unknown to them, without receiving a single 
 sous, and the father, when something was given to him 
 on account of his son, openly expressed his astonishment. 
 As a consequence of their industry, mendicity is ex- 
 tremely rare ; in the whole valley of La Tour, or Lu- 
 
of the Vaudois. 47 
 
 cerhe, as it is called, there are only four beggars, one of 
 whom is a Roman Catholic, and the other three are un- 
 fitted for labour by physical defects. The winter is the 
 season in which poverty presses most hardly on them, 
 especially if the preceding harvest should have been 
 defective. They then assist one another as far as they 
 can with the necessaries of life-, and some of them der 
 scend to the plains in search of work, which their supe- 
 rior honesty and industry generally enable them to 
 obtain. The comparatively rich always give away a 
 portion of their surplus of corn, &c, (in which surplus, 
 in fact, consist their riches,) and a poor box is placed in 
 all their churches, and receives the contributions of all 
 who are able to give money. A singular illustration of 
 their charity will be found in the circumstance of dis- 
 tressed Roman Catholics receiving an equal attention 
 from them with those of their own communion. "God 
 sends rain upon all men," they say, " and so ought we to 
 assist all men." Indeed, their constant reference to the 
 Holy Scriptures on all occasions where human judgment 
 is liable to error, is one of their most delightful and strik- 
 ing characteristics, and is by no means confined to those 
 who have the greatest advantages of education. The 
 same spirit of charity produces a remarkable harmony 
 among themselves. If law-suits are not, as formerly, 
 unknown among them, they are at least very rare, and 
 considered as highly discreditable. One of the pastors 
 submits at this moment tq a loss, serious in his circum- 
 
48 History and present Situation 
 
 stances, rather than disgrace, as he conceives, the clerical 
 character, by engaging in a dispute. The only distinc- 
 tion of rank is between the clergy and laity ; and when- 
 ever any number of them meet together there is no 
 assumption of superiority, nor any want of decorum. 
 They are one united peasantry, with whom superior 
 virtue and education stand in place of the distinctions of 
 complicated society. One proud distinction they do 
 indeed possess over their countrymen — they are the only 
 body of his Sardinian Majesty's subjects who are allowed 
 the use of arms ; and this, on account of their well-tried 
 loyalty and valour, that they may be ready to defend the 
 frontier which they inhabit from sudden attack. In the 
 use of their arms they are remarkably skilful, the result 
 of their practising with them either at the target or in 
 the chase of the chamois ; an animal by no means rare on 
 these mountains, especially on the high ridge which sepa- 
 rates the valleys of Macelle and the Clusone. 
 
 The scenery of these valleys is magnificent. The 
 writer has been in most parts of the Alps and Pyrenees, 
 and can without partiality say that he has never seen 
 finer combinations, nor ever found so much variety, within 
 the same space. The valleys of Prali, Rodoret, and 
 Macelle, which are different branches of the valley of 
 St. Martin, possess that indescribable character of awful- 
 fulness and sublimity peculiar to the loftiest mountains. 
 They are, indeed, as the mountaineers expressly call 
 them, " des mauvaises montagnes," barren of pasturage 
 
of the Vaudois. 49 
 
 <# 
 
 and dangerous of access, and producing to man little else 
 
 than the perils of avalanches and torrents. Of a directly 
 opposite character is the scenery of the " terres mediates/' 
 and the lower part of the valley of Lucerne, or of the 
 Pelice, including the communes of Prarustih and Roche- 
 platte, between the valleys of Peroiise and Lucerne. 
 Prom the sides of fertile mountains, whose height proves 
 an early barrier to the sun, under the shade of noble 
 Spanish chestnut trees, amidst vineyards and cottages 
 covered with vines-, with the towns of La Tour and 
 Lucerne at his feet, the writer has often seen the strong 
 glow of the sun still lighting up the fertile plains of 
 Piemont and the distant Apennines. The higher part 
 of the valley of the Pelice unites in every degree these 
 two opposite characters, and affords within a day's walk 
 every variety of nature's best models. The approach 
 from the French side is by the Col de Tende, or by 
 "Mount Cenis for carriages. Mules pass easily from Brian- 
 con by Mount Genevre, or the Col de la Croix, which 
 two latter passes lead immediately into the Vaudois dis- 
 trict. Carriages should proceed to Turin, as the by- 
 roads are bad. From Turin to Pignerol there are five 
 " postes," thence to Perouse, at the mouth of the valley 
 of St. Martin, two more, and from Pignerol to La Tour 
 three. The carriage may be left at either of these 
 places, and saddle horses be procured, but the inn at La 
 Tour is the best. The valley of Lucerne as far as Pra, 
 which may be considered its termination, may be seen in 
 
 E 
 
50 History and present Situation of the Vaudois. 
 
 * 
 a day, but would not be well seen. Those'who are useH 
 
 to bad inns may sleep atPra; and on the following day, 
 instead of returning to La Tour, may turn to the left at 
 Bobbi, cross the Col du Julien, and fall upon Prali, 
 where it will be necessary to have recourse to the hospi- 
 tality of the pastor, as there is no sort of inn. From 
 Prali the traveller should cross a small mountain" to Ro- 
 dbret, another to Salza, should ascend the valley of 
 Macelle to the Balsi, and return by Maneille, Villeseche, 
 and Pomaret, to Perousei where he will be tolerably ac- 
 commodated. On the fourth day he may return to La 
 Tour by St. Germain and Pi-ambl, crossing the Vachere, 
 visiting the Pra del Tor, and traversing the beautiful 
 valley of Angrogna. The communes of Rocheplatte 
 and Prarustin might be seen in an easy Walk from La 
 Tour to Pigherol. Those .who love mountainous scenery 
 and simplicity of manners, or are interested in contem- 
 plating the effects of a pure and long-preserved faith, or- 
 by' the connexion of the places they stand on with ro- 
 mantic deeds, will do well in visiting this little people; 
 and will sympathize with the writer in his ardent desire 
 once more to see them, and his far greater earnestness to 
 assist them. 
 
51 
 
 STATE OF THE VAUDOIS. 
 
 Names of the 
 Communes. 
 
 Names of the Pastors. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Protest- 
 ant 
 
 Roman 
 Catholic 
 
 Saint Jean 
 
 
 Mondon 
 
 
 2000 
 
 40 
 
 Angrogne . 
 
 
 Goante 
 
 
 2000 
 
 100 
 
 Villar . 
 
 
 Gay . . 
 
 
 2000 
 
 200 
 
 Rora . 
 
 
 Peyrot 
 
 
 800 
 
 100 
 
 Prarustin 
 
 } 
 
 
 f 
 
 1500 
 
 30 
 
 Rocheplatte 
 
 f 
 
 i 
 
 j 
 
 Rostaing, fils 
 
 < 
 
 i 
 
 400 
 
 20 
 
 Saint Germain 
 
 Monet 
 
 
 950 
 
 60 
 
 •Pramol . 
 
 
 Vinyon . , > . 
 
 
 1200 
 
 — 
 
 La Tour : 
 
 
 Bert, Moderatetfr 
 
 
 1600 
 
 800 
 
 Bobi . • 
 
 
 Muston, Secretaire 
 
 
 2000 
 
 20 
 
 Pomaret 
 
 
 Jalla 
 
 
 1100 
 
 120 
 
 Villeseehe . 
 
 
 Rostaing,^ adjdnt > 
 
 1850 
 
 530 
 
 Maneille . 
 
 1 
 
 Monastier 
 
 f 
 
 i 
 
 300 
 
 50 
 
 Macel 
 
 J 
 
 
 860 
 
 150 
 
 Prali 
 Rrodoret . 
 
 1 
 
 > 
 
 j 
 
 Peyran 
 
 r 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 850 
 300 
 
 25 
 40 
 
 19710 
 
 1785 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 A Committee is formed in London for the promotion 
 of contributions for the Vaudois. Others are forming 
 in principal eountry towns (e. g.) Oxford and Lichfield; 
 and it cannot be too strongly recommended to all those 
 who take an interest- in these excellent and primitive 
 christians, that they should form committees in their 
 respective localities for the advancement of thisch^i^y. 
 The case is yet impferfectly known, and the existence of 
 Gonwnittees of respectable persons will be the best' se- 
 curity for the propriety of charitable interference in it. 
 The/ writer believes that books are opened for the re* 
 ception of contributions at most of the Bankers in Town. 
 
 LONDON: 
 Printed by W. 01. WES, Northumberland-dourt,