THE 



VOYAGE AND ADVENTURES 



OF 



FRANCIS LEGUAT, 



A GENTLEMAN OF BRESSE.^ 



The Stale of the Affairs of Eeligion in France, obliging me 

 to seek after some means to leave the Kingdom, I made use 

 of that which Providence furnish'd me with, to pass into 

 Holland, where I arriv'd the 6th of August 1689. 



1 had scarce begun to taste the Sweetness of that precious 

 Liberty, which I found in my abode there, and which I had 

 been depriv'd of four whole years, ever since the Revocation 

 of the Edict of Nants- in 1685, wdien I understood that the 



^ Francois Leguat, of the Province of Bourgogne, brought up in the 

 Province of Bresse, a small district now represented by the department 

 of Ain. 



2 The Edict of Nantes, -which put a temporary end to the religious 

 struggles in France, and assured liberty of belief and safety in worshijD 

 to the Calvinists, was decreed in 1598. 



Louis XIV, under the influence of Madame de Maintenon, having 

 determined for political reasons to re-establish the unity of the Catholic 

 religion throughout his dominions, proceeded by all the means in his 

 power, moral and physical, by cruel persecution, and especially by what 

 were known as dragomiades, to enforce his arbitrary acts of despotism ; 

 and finally revoked the Edict of Nantes, eighty-seven years after its 

 original promulgation. 



In spite of rigorous prohibitions against emigration, numerous Pro- 

 testants followed their pastors into exile, and sought in other countries 

 that freedom of conscience denied to them at home. It has been calcu- 

 lated that at least some three hundred thousand Huguenots passed across 

 the frontiers and left France, so that some provinces were deprived of 

 nearly a third of their inhabitants, and many French industries were 

 seriously injured. 



Holland, England, and Prussia were the countries which were most 

 benefited by this wholesale emigration, and in fact, at London, a whole 

 suburb (Spitalfields) was peopled by the foreign weavers ; whilst at 



B 



