my eagerness to get something to eat. At last the long-desired hour arrived. They brought us a thick cabbage soup, a dish of boiled beef, and a 10-lb. loaf. The two gentlemen ate very little; but as for my companion and myself, we fell upon the soup in such a ravenous manner that I suffered greatly in consequence, having so long been accustomed to a spare diet. An apothecary was sent for, who gave me an emetic, without which I should probably have died.

When I had recovered, they asked me through what bad luck we had been reduced to this miserable condition. I told them all which had passed since our departure from Bergerac up to the present time, just as it is written in these memoirs. They began to weep on account of their own weakness, confessing to us that they had resolved to abjure their religion rather than be condemned to the galleys. "What an example, gentlemen," said I, "do you bring us here! We should wish rather never to have seen you than to find you holding sentiments so opposed to the education which your parents gave you, and to the faith in which you have been instructed. Do you not tremble for fear of the just judgments of God, who declares that those who know their Master's will and do it not, shall be beaten with more stripes than those who are ignorant of it?" "What would you have us do?" they replied. "We cannot make up our minds to go to the galleys. You are very fortunate in having courage to do so, and we praise you for it; but speak no more about it-our resolution is

taken." We could do nothing but lament and sigh over their weakness, and pray God to bring them to a better mind. We asked them to tell us their adventures since their departure from Bergerac, and the way in which they had been arrested; which Rivasson did as follows.

NARRATIVE

OF

MESSIEURS SORBIER AND RIVASSON.

M

Y friend Sorbier and myself (said Rivasson) escaped from the Duke de la Force's great persecution by flying into the country, where we remained concealed; and as the duke at his departure left very strict orders against us, we saw no other way to avoid falling into our enemy's hands than by flight into Holland. For this purpose we sent for a famous and experienced guide from Amsterdam, who gained his livelihood by these perilous enterprises; for if these guides are captured they are hanged without mercy. He was cunning and adroit, very prudent, and had the map of all the roads and bye-ways at his fingers' ends. He was generally called the Gasconnet, for he was, in fact, of Gascon origin. The Gasconnet having arrived at Bergerac, we made arrangements for our departure. Our parents, who consented to our flight, gave us as much money as they could, that we might not suffer want in foreign countries. We dressed ourselves as officers going to rejoin their regiment near Valenciennes. The Gasconnet passed as our valet. In this way we crossed France without the least

obstacle. The Gasconnet went on foot and we on horseback; but as a precaution he rarely kept close to us on the road; he directed us to the inns where we were to dine or sleep, in which places he never failed to meet us. Thus we arrived at Paris, where we stopped a few days to see the curiosities of that fine city. One day at Versailles we met an officer of our acquaintance who had married a Protestant lady of Bergerac, though he was a Papist himself. This lady had two brothers, refugees abroad; and as the king's agents had confiscated their property because of their escape, this captain, named De Maison, was petitioning the court that it might be made over to him. We greeted him; he treated us to good cheer, and so succeeded in gaining our confidence that we told him the secret of our flight from the kingdom. He applauded our design in order to extract from us all the particulars of our enterprise, which we candidly related to him. We separated from him at Paris, when we started for Valenciennes.

De Maison wished us a successful journey, and professed great friendship for us on parting. But the treacherous fellow took the road to Versailles ; and in order to gain favour with M. de la Vrillière, minister of state, and thus have a better chance of obtaining what he was soliciting from the court, he discovered our flight to this minister, with the exact route which we were to take as far as Mons, where we hoped to be in safety, it being a town of the Spanish Netherlands with a Dutch garrison. The minister did not fail at once to despatch a

courier to Quievrain, between Valenciennes and Mons. Quievrain belongs to France; and here there is a bridge across a little river which forms the boundary of France and the Spanish Netherlands. As there was no garrison in this place, the minister ordered the mayor to have this bridge guarded by peasants, with orders that when two officers and their valet, who said they belonged to the regiment of La Marche, and were going to join their garrison, presented themselves there, they should be arrested at once and led to prison at Valenciennes. The Mayor of Quievrain assembled his well-armed peasants and placed a guard of twenty-five men at the head of the bridge on the · French side. We were in perfect ignorance of what was going on at Quievrain. Our guide assured us that we had no danger to fear there; and he was right in one sense; for had it not been for the treason of the perfidious De Maison we should have passed through without any obstacle.

Well, in the obscurity of the evening we arrived at this fatal bridge. The sentinel of the guard cried out, "Who's there?" "Officers of the king," we replied. "Of what regiment?" he asked. "Of the regiment of La Marche." "Halt, then," said the sentinel. At the same time the whole guard, with guns pointed at us in good order, barred the entrance to the bridge. Our guide, surprised at this unprecedented opposition, encouraged us, saying that our safety depended on passing this bridge, for once on the other side of the river, we were undoubtedly saved, for we should then be on Spanish territory,

D