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under the mask of establishing their secu rity."

That this treaty gave no security, the poor Waldenses soon felt by sad experience. They therefore drew up on the 29th March 1656, a pathetic appeal for redress, entitled, "The Grievances of the Treaty made at Pignerol," which, though a most affecting document, our limits prevent us from laying before the reader. It was delivered to the king of France; but no redress could be obtained. "It so happened," says Morland, that from this time forward, the leading men in the court of Savoy have used their best endeavours to lay heavier loads on their backs than ever they had hitherto done. For in their orders of 20th April and 6th October 1656, and 24th August 1657, they summoned the poor people to pay their taxes for the year 1655, contrary to the treaty, while they exempted the Catholics from the said taxes: and when they appealed to the Duke, 6th October 1657, on the hardship of their case, they were, among other things, absolutely prohibited the exercise of their public worship in San Giovanni."

Having remained among the Waldenses till the summer of 1658, Morland closes his nistory in the following mournful words:It is my unhappiness that I am forced to

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leave them where I found them, among the potsherds, with sackcloth and ashes spread under them, and lifting up their voice with weeping, in the words of Job, Have pity on us, have pity on us, O ye our friends, for the hand of God hath touched us.' To this very hour they hunger and thirst, and are naked and buffetted, and have no certain dwellingplace. To this very day they labour under most heavy burdens, which are laid upon them by their rigid task-masters of the church of Rome; by forbidding them all manner of traffic or commerce for their sustenance, by robbing them of their goods and estates, by banishing their ministers, who are the shepherds of the flocks, that so the wolves may the better devour the sheep; yea, by murdering many innocents as they pass along the high-way; by cruel mockings and revilings; by continual menacings and threats of another massacre, if possible sevenfold more bloody than the former!-To all which I must add, that notwithstanding those supplies which have been sent them from England and other states, yet so great is the number of those hungry creatures, and so grievous are the oppressions of their popish enemies, who lie in wait to bereave them of whatsoever is given them, and snatch at every morsel of meat that goes into their mouths, that to this day they are ready to eat their own flesh for want

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of bread. The tongue of the suckling is ready to cleave to the roof of his mouth, and the young children ask bread, and no man gives it to them; and in many places the young and the old lie on the ground in the streets. Their miseries are more grievous than words can express. They have no grapes in their vineyards; no cattle in their fields; no herds in their stalls; no corn in their garners; no meal in their barrels; no oil in their cruse. The stock which was gathered for them by the good people of this and other nations, is wasting apace, and when that is spent, they must inevitably perish, except God, who turns the hearts of princes as the rivers of water, be graciously pleased to incline the heart of their sovereign prince, to take pity on his poor, harmless, and faithful subjects."

The flames of persecution were not however confined to Piedmont. Similar deeds of cruelty were inflicted on the Waldenses of Poland, a full account of which was published at the time, (1658,) in England, and again excited the sympathy and liberality of the British nation. But the details of this horrid work presents a picture of human depravity too gross for our readers.

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CHAPTER VIII.

NOTWITHSTANDING the disadvantageous terms of the treaty of Pignerol, numbers of the Waldenses who had fled from the massacres of 1665, returned to their native valleys. But, alas! it was only to endure still farther persecutions, and to share with their brethren the sufferings to which the Romish church subjected all who dared to call in question her usurped and despotic power. To this state of continual affliction the Waldenses patiently submitted till 1672, when Providence gave them an opportunity of signalizing their loyalty to their prince, which, for some time, procured for them a considerable portion of tranquillity.

A war having broken out in 1672, between the duke of Savoy and the Genoese, in which the latter proved almost uniformly victorious, the Waldenses, notwithstanding their former ill treatment, voluntarily came forward to the assistance of their sovereign. This reinforcement to the duke's army, gave a new turn to the contest, which shortly afterwards ended in the complete discomfiture of the Genoese. In testimony of gratitude for their loyalty on this occasion, the duke addressed to the Waldenses the following letter, acknowledging the obligations under which he was laid

fifteen days from the date of the proclamation, under pain of banishment or death. All infants, too, born from that time, were to be brought up in the Roman Catholic religion, under the penalty of their fathers being condemned to the gallies!"

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In vain did the Waldenses themselves, or the Protestant states of Europe, remonstrate against so unjust an edict. Amidst tears and expostulations, the duke, urged on by the king of France, proceeded to put his dreadful decree into execution. The Waldenses had now, therefore, no other alternative but to arm in their own defence; and though out of a population of about 15,000, only 2500 were capable of bearing arms, yet this handful more than once repulsed the united forces of the king of France, and the duke of Savoy. The Vaudois," says Gilly, "gallantly withstood the first shock of war, and for three days, were victorious in every engagement. At length they were compelled, by the overwhelming numbers of their invaders, to submit, but not before such horrible devastation had been carried into every hamlet, and such unheard of barbarities committed upon all ages, even upon women and infants, that it would be outraging human nature to recount them." More than three thousand are said to have prerished either by the sword, or by the more horrible inventions of their persecutors;

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