THE HUGUENOTS IN FEANCE 47 



childreu to their last drop of blood. The army halted 

 before their weak iutreuchmeuts, hesitating to attack the 

 desperate defeuders. Word was sent to the Vaudois that 

 by voluntarily surrendering themselves they would avoid 

 needless bloodshed and their lives and property be spared. 

 Beguiled by these promises they laid down their arms. 

 They had uo sooner done so than their persecutors fell 

 upon the defenseless town like a pack of wolves. The 

 greater part of the garrison was murdered in cold blood, 

 while upwards of eight hundred women and children who 

 had crowded into the sacred precincts of the church were 

 there put to the sword. Among the defenders of the 

 town was a band of forty heroic women, for whom the 

 crowning act of cruelty was reserved. They were locked 

 into a barn and a torch was then applied to the flimsy 

 structure. One soldier, moved to pity by the shrieks of 

 the frenzied victims, opened a way of escape, but his 

 comrades who were enjoying the spectacle barred the 

 exit with the sharp points of their sx)ikes. Thus, in one 

 way or another, over a thousand innocent persons were 

 killed and three times that number driven forth as home- 

 less and destitute wanderers. For weeks afterwards it 

 was no strange thing to come across the body of some 

 Vaudois lying by the roadside, overcome by hunger and 

 thirst, or to hear the wailing of a child that moui-ned 

 beside its mother who had fallen dead of exposure and 

 fatigue. No charity could be shown these helpless peo- 

 ple, for whoever gave them food, drink or shelter did so 

 under penalty of hanging for it. 



Such was the fate that befell a people whose only fault 

 was that they were Protestants ; a people concerning a High 

 whom Governor de Bellamy reported to the King, 

 "They differ from our communion in many respects, but 

 they are a simple, irreproachable people, benevolent, 

 temperate, humane, and of unshaken loyalty. Agricul- 

 ture is their sole occupation ; they have no legal con- 

 tentions, no lawsuits, or party strife. Hospitality is one 



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