nity, not the result of political feelings; yet, but for the generous interposition of Prince Bagration with the commander in chief, it would have exposed them and their property to considerable danger. The Austrians could not withhold their admiration; and the French general-Suchet-published an order of the day for the very purpose of acknowledging such a singular instance of benevolence.

66

Still more recently they have exemplified the same humane feelings, on an occasion which his Excellency Count Waldbourg Truchsess, the King of Prussia's ambassador at the court of Turin, thus describes in a communication with

which the editor was honoured, dated Turin, 18 Aout, 1825.-J'ignore si vous êtes informé, Monsieur, que les Vaudois ont fait de leur propre mouvement, une collecte entre eux, en faveur des Hollandois qui ont souffert par les dernieres inondations; cette collecte a raporté plus de 3,000 fr. et a été envoyée en Hollande, où elle a excité la plus vive reconnoissance; il est effectivement touchant de voir la liste de souscription des diverses communes. Aucun individu ne s'en est exclu, chacun a donné selon ses facultés; mème les enfans y ont contribué leurs sous d'epargne. La bienfaisance est toujours une des plus belles qualités, et dignes d'éloge; l'homme riche ne sauroit faire un meilleur usage de son bien; mais elle est sublime, quand elle est exercée par celui, qui partage son dernier morceau de pain, pour soulager ses frères malheureux.'

46

In point of loyalty to their sovereign, the Waldenses likewise present a model worthy of general imitation to the subjects of other monarchs; and the more so as their religious principles differ widely from those of the state.

"In 1694 Victor Amadeus granted an edict highly honourable to the Vaudois, and said to their deputies; Vous n'avez qu'un Dieu et qu'un prince à servir; servez Dieu et votre prince en toute conscience; d'autres ont été la cause de vos malheurs ; mais si vous faites votre devoir, je ferai le mien, et aussi longtems que j'aurai un morceau de pain, vous en aurez votre part. "When Louis the Fourteenth's army invaded Turin, Victor Amadeus was advised to rely upon their loyalty, and take refuge in Rora: he did so, and remained concealed and secure for a fortnight in the house of a Vaudois peasant, named Durand, till prince Eugene came and regained Turin.

"In 1821, the late King of Sardinia said to Count de Crotti, Governor of Pignerol; Je sais que je suis aimé des Vaudois; j'ai fait la guerre dans ces vallées ; j'ai demeuré quelque tems au milieu d'eux avec plaisir; leur attachement m'étoit connu; maintenant je suis charmé d'apprendre par vous, que dans ces dernières circonstances, il n'ayent point dementi

leur caractère.'

"So judiciously have the Vaudois maintained willing submission to their sovereign in temporal affairs, whilst they disowned the arbitrary impositions of the Roman pontiffin matters of religion!--asserting by this wise distinction, even in the earlier ages, those principles which are now acknowledged of standard value in all enlightened states; namely, those which imply the exercise of authority on the part of rulers consistently with toleration; and of submission on the part of subjects without a surrender of the rights of conscience." Sims, pp. xxix-xxxiv.

The outlines of the afflicting history of this remarkable people must be familiar to most of our readers; and we may have occasion, in our fuller notice of the works before us, to detail some memorable circumstances not generally known respecting them: we shall therefore for the present pass over all matters of historical relation, to state, from Mr. Sims's Introduction, the nature of the recent attempts for their benefit. The passage is long: but we shall be fully satisfied in having copied it, if it should be the means of inducing those of our readerswho have it in their power to assist this truly benevolent and Christian object.

"It has been their happiness, as we have seen, at former periods of their history, to obtain the protection of several European sovereigns and states, whenever the violence of their enemies overwhelmed them with calamities; and the names both of Charles I. and of the usurper Cromwell, of King William and Queen Mary, of the Elector of Brandenburg, the Duke of Würtemberg, the Landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt, and other princes, appear on the list of their ancient benefactors; whilst the United Provinces, and several cantons of Switzerland, afforded likewise both protection and pecuniary aid. Still more recently, our late venerat. ed Sovereign George III., his present Majesty George IV., the late Emperor Alexander, the King of Prussia, and the King of the Netherlands, have condescended to extend their regard to the interests and wants of the Vaudois. Of the patronage and munificence of several of these illustrious personages, the particulars will appear in the following account of the late attempts to promote the welfare of the Vaudois. Those attempts may be comprised under the following heads:-(1.) The renewal of the royal grant, &c. ;-(2.) The endowment of an hospital; (3.) The maintenance of students;-(4.) The establishment of schools;-(5.) The supply of books.

have been made; whilst liberal contributions towards the same object have been made in England, where several prelates and noblemen appear on the list of subscribers, amongst others, the Earls of Liverpool and Clarendon; the Archbishops of Canterbury, York, and Dublin; the Bishop of London, who has been their strenuous advocate; the late venerable Bishop of Durham, who bequeathed 500 for the relief of the Vaudois, and many other distinguished individuals.

(3.) Students for the ministry are usually educated at Geneva or Lausanne, and at the latter university four students were allowed 600 francs by the Swiss cantons. The Vaudois having been visited by Gorges Lowther, Esq. in 1820, that gentleman published a pamphlet, entitled, Brief Observations,' &c. and formed a fund for the maintenance of Vaudois students; of which fund the following gentlemen,-John Scandrett Harford, Esq., Gorges Lowther, Esq., the Rev. Walter Trevelyan, and William Wilberforce, Esq.-became trustees.

66

(4.) Besides the grammar-school at La Tour, there are fifteen parish schools in the valleys, and during the winter months smaller schools in the hamlets, which have been long supported by contributions from Holland. It was one of the principal objects of the editor, in visiting Piedmont for the second time in 1823, in company with his friends Wm. Plenderleath, Esq. and Durbin Brice, Esq. to ascertain, by minute investigation, the actual wants of the Vaudois with respect to education. The result of his inquiries throughout the whole of the Vaudois territory was, that the following were desiderata.'

"1. An addition of fifty francs to the salary of each master in the fifteen schools, and a gift of twenty francs to fifteen boys as ushers.

"2. An extension of the term of education in ninety-one winter schools in the hamlets, from three, four, or five, to four, five, or six months, according to the exigency of the case in each hamlet; and the formation of twelve additional winter schools.

"3. The establishment of schools for girls, under the care of schoolmistresses, where sewing, knitting, reading, &c. might be taught; the expense being estimated at about 101. per annum for each village, and 31. for each hamlet or winter school. "4. Two institutions for the purpose of training schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, and in which some useful branches of industry-manufactures, &c. might be taught.

"The proposed improvements met with the concurrence of the Vaudois pas tors at the time. Still more recently,

the editor has had the satisfaction to find,

that on the 17th of July, 1826, the offi

eers of the table' formed a series of reso

lutions, which nearly coincide with his views; as appears from a document received from the Rev. Francis Cunningham,-an advocate for the plan of female education, and who, on his first visit to Piedmont in 1820, contributed above 300 francs towards the Livre de Famille ;'a book of devotions undertaken by the moderator, M. Bert, containing prayers, sacred poems, &c. That judicious friend of the Vaudois-Count Waldbourg Truchsess-has so far countenanced the plan of female education as to have appropriated the Countess Fontana's annual donation of 200 francs to the establishment of a girls' school at St. Jean. A similar school at St. Germain has been also formed.

"(5.) The Vaudois have been usually supplied with the books requisite for their churches, schools, and families, from Lausanne and Geneva. The books principally in use are Martin's or Ostervald's Bible; the Liturgies of Geneva and Neufchâtel; Ostervald's Nourriture de l'Ame,' and Catechism; the Psalter, with musical notes; and Pictet's Prayers and Hymns. The Society for promoting Christian Knowledge' has also kindly voted a supply of elementary books. Till within the last few years Bibles were extremely scarce amongst the Vaudois. They are, however, particularly entitled to an adequate supply from their more opulent fellowChristians, since one of their pastorsOlivetan- translated, and their ancestors printed, the first French Bible for the use of the Protestant Church of France, at the very era of the Reformation. In the year 1815 a correspondence took place between the present moderator and the editor, on the expediency of forming a connexion with the British and Foreign Bible Society;' it was no less urged by the friends of the Vaudois in Switzerland; and in the following year an association was formed. Upon the representation made by some. benevolent persons, the society in London made a liberal grant of 500 Bibles. The editor discovered in 1823 that numerous copies remained unsold, the people being unable to defray the expense of carriage, custom-house dues, &c. ; but this circumstance being explained, the society, by a new act of generosity, permitted the ministers to distribute the copies amongst the poor, gratis. The Rev. J. L. Jackson, who made an excursion to Piedmont in 1825, has obtained an additional grant of 700 Bibles from the same source, and 300 copies have been given by the 'Paris Bible Society."" Sims, pp. xlv-lix.

From Mr. Sims, we now turn to Mr. Gilly, whose excursion has been the means of exciting a widely diffused interest in favour of this long persecuted church and people. The portion of his narrative, which we have marked for

Alpine solitudes, or in the dusty study of a recluse. We were pre-disposed to respect his virtues and piety, and had been given to understand that he was a man of the first literary acquirements; but we did not expect to find the tone and manners of one whose brows would do honour to the mitre of any diocese in Europe. "Our conversation was held generally in French; sometimes we addressed him in English, which he understood, but did not speak; but when I engrossed his discourse to myself, we spoke in Latin, as being the language in which we could not mistake each other, and affording the most certain medium of communication upon ecclesiastical subjects, where I was anxious to ascertain facts with precision. Nothing could be more choice or classical than his selection of words; and I was not more surprised by his fluency of diction, than by the extraordinary felicity with which he applied whole sentences from ancient poets, and even prose authors, to convey his sentiments.

"M. Peyrani spoke with so much rapidity, and his thoughts followed each other in such quick succession, that he never suffered himself to be at a loss for words. If the Latin term did not immediately occur to him, he made no pause, but instantly supplied its place by a French or Italian phrase. This animation of manner had such an effect upon his whole frame, that very soon after we began to converse with him, the wrinkles seemed to fall from his brow, a hectic colour succeeded to the pallidness of his countenance, and the feeble and stooping figure, which first stood before us, ele.. vated itself by degrees, and acquired new strength and energy. In fact, while he was favouring me with a short history of himself, I might have forgotten that he had exceeded the usual limits of man's short span; and I must repeat, that it is impossible to admire sufficiently the Christian character of the individual, or of the church which he represented, when I recollect the meek resignation with which he submitted to his hard fate, and the forbearance he exhibited, whenever his remarks led him to talk of the vexatious and oppressive proceedings, which have never ceased to mark the line of conduct pursued by the Sardinian government, in regard to the churches of the Waldenses.

"M. Peyrani's book-shelves were loaded with more than they could well bear; and when I noticed the number of volumes which lay scattered about the room, or were disposed in order, wherever a place could be found for them, he told me, that if he were now in possession of all that once were his, the whole of his own, and the adjoining house, would be insufficient to contain them. He said, he had bought a great many himself; but the principal portion of his library was

66

the accumulation of his father and grandfather, and of more distant ancestors; and expressed much regret that he could no longer display the folios and curious old manuscripts that had been handed down to him. I asked what had become of them. They have been sold,' he replied, with considerable emotion: for he had been compelled to part with them from time to time, to purchase clothes, and even food, for himself and family!!! Upon my inquiring, whether there had not been formerly bishops in the Vaudois church, properly so called, he answered, 'Yes; and I should now be styled Bishop, for my office is virtually episcopal; but it would be absurd to re. tain the empty title, when we are too poor to support the dignity, and have little jurisdiction, but that which is voluntarily submitted to among ourselves: the term Moderator is therefore now in use with us, as being more consistent with our humiliation.' He immediately afterwards declared, that he did not desire a large income, and would not wish for more than 3000 francs a-year; but that, in the best times which he had enjoyed, his means were inadequate to his situation; and that, among other contingent expenses, his correspondence with foreign Protestants was a heavy tax upon his purse.

"It was evident that M. Peyrani was sincerely attached to the episcopal forms of church government; and I believe he spoke the sentiments of his brethren, as well as his own; but it must be confessed that his predilections led him to assign more importance to his own office, than his real jurisdiction, and the relaxed discipline of the churches of the Valleys, would strictly warrant.

"At present, orders conferred at Lausanne or Geneva are held good, after some confirmation on the part of their own moderator; but before the dreadful persecution of 1685, when the whole Protestant population were driven out of the country, the holy office was committed to none, except in one instance, which I shall presently state, but to those who had gone through all the examinations and necessary forms at home. The candidates were severely examined in Latin, Italian, and French; their lives and conversation were strictly scrutinized; and if the result was satisfactory, the moderator then proceeded to the ceremony of ordination in full synod. He first delivered an exhortation, next exacted the usual vows, and, directing the pastor elect to kneel before him, he laid his hands upon his head, and implored the blessing and gifts of the Holy Spirit. He then raised him up; and, giving him the hand of fellowship, presented him as a minister of

the church.

"Two great changes had previously taken place in the Valleys in the year