1827.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



201 



tempts for their benefit. This introduction 

 will furnish the reader with ample informa- 

 tion on the several subjects of which it pro- 

 fesses to treat, in a brief and agreeable form ; 

 and this, together with the very able state- 

 ments and defences of M. Peyran himself, 

 will supply to the full the curiosity of the 

 public. The editor leaves us nothing farther 

 to wish, than that the Vaudois themselves 

 may be left undisturbed, and their pastors 

 uncorrupted. 



We can, perhaps, in a few lines furnish a 

 sketch of these somewhat interesting people. 

 With respect to their present condition the 

 Vaudois occupy the valleys of Piedmont, 

 known by the names of Luzerny, Perosa, and 

 San Martino, neither of them of veiy consi- 

 derable extent, at the very foot of the Alps. 

 The present population of these valleys 

 amount to about twenty- two thousand, occu- 

 pying fifteen villages, and one hundred and 

 three hamlets. The villages are in the val- 

 leys ; the hamlets chiefly on the declivities. 

 Of the population, about seventeen hundred 

 are Catholics ; the rest, of the Waldensian 

 persuasion professing doctrines not essen- 

 tially differing from Protestants. The fif-' 

 teen villages are, or rather were, under the 

 pastoral care of thirteen ministers, whose re- 

 ligious duties extend over the numerous, but 

 vety small hamlets. 



With respect to their ecclesiastical history 

 they claim an original independence. They 

 have never formed a part of the Roman Ca- 

 tholic church. After the second Council of 

 Nice, when the use of images was sanction- 

 ed, Claudius, bishop of Turin, resisted ; and 

 his successors continued their resistance to 

 the profane introduction. Persecution, how- 

 ever, they seem not to have suffered so early 

 as the Albigenses, a people professing pre- 

 cisely the same sentiments, in the south of 

 France ; but in the fifteenth century, the 

 storm broke upon them. The Inquisitor 

 Aquapendente, in 1475, made many martyrs ; 

 and numbers were butchered in an invasion 

 of two thousand, headed by a nuncio of In- 

 nocent VIII. in 1477. In 1534, in 1560, in 

 1602, in 1624, and in 1655, successive at- 

 tacks were made upon them, and their num- 

 bers greatly reduced. The barbarities exer- 

 cised in the year 1655 excited the indigna- 

 tion and sympathy of Protestant Europe. 

 Cromwell commanded a collection to be 

 made in their favour, which amounted to 

 38,241. 1*. 6rf.; and bestirred himself in 

 remonstrating with the courts of France and 

 Turin. The effect of this remonstrance of 

 Cromwell, and the Protestant courts of Eu- 

 rope, checked the oppressions of their mas- 

 ters, till the Dragoonades of Lewis in the 

 south of France encouraged the court of 

 Turin to play the same pranks upon the 

 Vaudois. A brave resistance was made ; 

 but bravery vsould have been in vain, but for 

 the fortunate quarrel between the courts of 

 Versailles and Turin, which preserved them 

 from extermination, at the very moment when 

 all seemed hopeless. The miserable fugi- 



M.M. New Series.-VoL.UI. No. 14. 



lives returned to their valleys, and the relics 

 have from that period been undisturbed, at 

 least by the fire and sword of religious perse- 

 cution. 



On this last occasion, reduced as they were 

 to the deepest misery, relief was forwarded 

 from several quarters. Among the principal 

 was an annual grant of Jt'500. by our William 

 and Mary ; of which sum 266. was appro- 

 priated to the ministers and their widows, and 

 the remainder for the repair of the churches, 

 and the support of schoolmasters. This an- 

 nuity continued to be paid till 1797, when 

 Piedmont fell into the hands of the French. 

 lu 1814 an attempt was made by Mr. Wii- 

 berforce and his friends, at the suggestion of 

 Mr. Si ins, the editor of the work before us, 

 to get a renewal of the grant, which was re- 

 sisted by Lord Castlereagh. Another effort, 

 more vigorously, or at least more efficiently 

 made, was last year successful. For our own 

 parts we must be permitted to remark, our 

 public efforts should have been directed to 

 stimulate the court of Turin. If foreign 

 countries provide for the ministers of any 

 persuasion, why should the natives trouble 

 themselves ? Not only, however, is this an- 

 nuity of 500. renewed to them, but the in- 

 terest of 10,000., three per cent. Bank An- 

 nnities, is regularly remitted to them by the 

 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 

 Foreign parts; a sum which was originally 

 raised in 1768 by letters patent from the 

 King for collecting in the churches. Not 

 content with these rather ample sums ample 

 we mean of course with reference to the oc- 

 casion a subscription was last year opened, 

 which amounted, in January 1S26, nearly to 

 5,000, since considerably augmented, and 

 which is to be appropriated, we believe, to 

 the support of an hospital, students and 

 schools. 



What has their own government done? 

 Much, after what we have detailed, was of 

 course superfluous. But what is it ? A gra- 

 cious permission to solicit contributions in fo- 

 reign countries; but, lately, something more 

 substantial, 500 francs per annum to e;ich of 

 the Vaudois pastors. The King of Prussia, 

 besides, has given 500 ; and the late Em- 

 peror of Russia another 500, and a third 

 500. has been recently bequeathed by the 

 Bishop of Durham. Altogether, we must 

 confess, the bounds of prudence have been 

 overslept. Let Englishmen look at home. 



The Secret Correspondence of Madams 

 de Maintenon with the Princess des Ursins, 

 3 vols. 800. ; 1826. Madame de Mainte- 

 non's story and character every body knows. 

 The Princess des Ursins, though historically 

 known, is not so familiarly known. She was 

 a native of France, the widow of two hus- 

 bands of the families of Talleyrand and Ur- 

 sini. On her second widowhood she was 

 sent to Spain, probably through the influence 

 of Madame de Maintenon, to attend on the 

 Queen of Spain, and through her to manage 

 her husband Philip, the new king, and keep 



2 D 



