which was felt at this time by all the Protestant states of Christendom, for the sufferings of these innocent mountaineers. We find the Swiss cantons ordering a day for public humiliation, and recommending a general subscription for their relief. This example was followed in England and Ireland; Cromwell proclaimed a national fast; a vivid delineation of their distresses was, by his orders, printed and circulated, and the sum of LSS.241, 1s. 6d. was raised, headed by a contribution of L-2000 from the privy purse.

Not contented with these preliminary measures, the Protector deputed Sir Samuel Morland to proceed as an envoy to the Court at Turin, and demand a public audience of the Duke of Savoy, to remonstrate with him on his cruel policy towards his unoffending subjects. The conference took place at Rivoli, in presence of the royal family and the whole court. The address of the young diplomatist is characterised throughout by deep feeling. We can only afford space for a quotation.

→ The most serene Protector of England hath been informed, that part of these most miserable people have been cruelly massacred by your forces, part driven out by violence, and forced to leave their native habitations; and so, without house or shelter, poor and destitute of all relief, do wander up and down, with their wives and children, in

craggy and uninhabitable places, and mountains covered with snow. Oh! the fired houses which are yet smoking, the torn limbs, and ground defiled with blood!

"Some men, an hundred years old, decrepit with age and bedrid, have been burned in their beds. Some infants have been dashed against the rocks, others have had their throats cut, whose brains have, with more than Cyclopean cruelty, been boiled and eaten by the murderers! What need I mention more, although I could reckon up very many cruelties of the same kind, if I were not astonished at the very thought of them. If all the tyrants of all times and ages were alive again, (which I would speak without any offence to your highness, seeing we believe none of these things were done through any default of yours,) certainly they would be ashamed when they should find that they had contrived nothing in comparison with these things, that might be reputed barbarous and inhuman.

"In the mean time, the angels are surprised with horror; men are amazed; heaven itself seems to be astonished with the cries of dying men; and the very earth to blush, being discoloured with the gore and blood of so many innocent persons! Do not thou, O thou Most High God, do not thou

take that revenge, which is due to so great wickednesses, and horrible villanies! Let thy blood, ✪ Christ, wash away this blood !”

NOTE D.

The Valley of Pragelas is now, alas! no longer what it once was,-the stronghold of Protestantism. By a base infraction of the most sacred and binding engagements on the part of the house of Bourbon, its inhabitants were cruelly deprived of the religious prerogatives which from time immemorial they possessed. "Their churches," remarks one of their own ancient historians, “are truly Protestant, time out of mind: their old people (and some are about an hundred years old,) have never heard from their fathers or grandfathers, that mass was ever sung in their country." Louis XIV., in direct violation of the solemn treaties of his predecessors, Henry IV. and Louis XIII., ceded this magnificent valley to Victor Amadeus, on the express condition, that the Protestants should be exterminated. "And where are the Bourbons now?" is the impressive comment

of Dr Gilly, on this act of regal perjury," Righteous art thou, O Lord!"

Though nominally catholic, however, there is still left a small remnant, imbued with the ancient spirit, who sigh in secret over its desolations. The catholic priests are at this moment watching with a jealous eye, every symptom of returning life, fearful lest these smouldering ashes should again burst into a flame. An emissary of the Vatican lately scoured the valley, demanded admittance into every suspected cot and hamlet, and the result of his scrutiny was a collection of upwards of sixty Bibles, Testaments, and Protestant catechisms, which he committed indiscriminately to the flames! The young native, who told the circumstance, mentioned that his own uncle was among the number who had to deliver up the treasured volume into the hands of the ecclesiastical plunderer; but added, that another now supplied its place, carefully secreted from future depredators.

NOTE E.

Castelluzzo is a bold rock, which crowns the summit of Mont Vaudelin in the Valley of Lucerna, in which there is formed a natural cavern, where three or four hundred Vaudois were wont to take refuge in the hour of persecution. The entrance was so narrow as only to admit one person at a time, it had a fountain of water, and was spacious enough to contain a large supply of provisions and ammunition.

NOTE F.

Instances are by no means uncommon in the Waldensian history, of those who externally avowed a Catholic creed, secretly countenancing the persecuted Protestants, as we have described in the case of Father Bernard; and among these not a few of noble birth, whose favour for the truth would never have been known, had they not fallen sacrifices to their valour, and been discovered among the slain. A remarkable example is relat