No representation was made to head-quarters by the authorities of
Guillestre of the conduct of the Protestant sergeant in the matter;
but when the shepherds got down to Gap, they were so full of the
sergeant's praises, and of his bravery in rescuing them and their
flock from certain death, that a paragraph descriptive of the affair
was inserted in the local papers, and was eventually copied into the
Parisian journals. Then it was that an inquiry was made into his
conduct, and the result was so satisfactory that the sergeant was at
once decorated not only with the _médaille militaire_, but with the
_médaille de sauvetage_--a still higher honour; and, shortly after, he
was allowed to retire from the service on full pay. He then returned
to his home and family at Guillestre, where he now officiates as
_Regent_ of the Vaudois church, reading the prayers and conducting the
service in the absence of the stated minister.

       *       *       *       *       *

We spent a Sunday in the comfortable parsonage at Guillestre. There
was divine service in the temple at half-past ten A.M., conducted by
the regular pastor, M. Schell, and instruction and catechizing of the
children in the afternoon. The pastor's regular work consists of two
services at Guillestre and Vars on alternate Sundays, with
Sunday-school and singing lesson; and on week days he gives religious
instruction in the Guillestre school. The missionary's wife is a true
"helpmeet," and having been trained as a deaconess at Strasbourg, she
regularly visits the poor, occasionally assisting them with medical
advice.

Another important part of the work at Guillestre is the girls' school,
for which suitable premises have been taken; and it is conducted by an
excellent female teacher. Here not only the usual branches of
education are taught, but domestic industry of different kinds.
Through the instrumentality of Mr. Milsom, glove-sewing has been
taught to the girls, and it is hoped that by this and similar efforts
this branch of home manufacture may become introduced in the High
Alps, and furnish profitable employment to many poor persons during
their long and dreary winter.

By the aid of a special fund, a few girl boarders, belonging to
scattered Protestant families who have no other means for the
education of their children, are also received at the school. The
girls seem to be extremely well taken care of, and the house, which we
went over, is a very pattern of cleanliness and comfort.

       *       *       *       *       *

The route from Guillestre into Italy lies up the valley of the Guil,
through one of the wildest and deepest gorges, or rather chasms, to be
found in Europe. Brockedon says it is "one of the finest in the Alps."
M. Bost compares it to the Moutier-Grand-Val, in the canton of Berne,
but says it is much wilder. He even calls it frightful, which it is
not, except in rainy weather, when the rocks occasionally fall from
overhead. At such times people avoid travelling through the gorge. M.
Bost also likens it to the Via Mala, though here the road, at the
narrowest and most precipitous parts, runs in the _bottom_ of the
gorge, in a ledge cut in the rock, there being room only for the river
and the road. It is only of late years that the road has been
completed, and it is often partly washed away in winter, or covered
with rock and stones brought down by the torrent. When Neff travelled
the gorge, it was passable only on foot, or on mule-back. Yet
light-footed armies have passed into Italy by this route. Lesdiguières
clambered over the mountains and along the Guil to reach Château
Queyras, which he assaulted and took. Louis XIII. once accompanied a
French army about a league up the gorge, but he turned back, afraid to
go farther; and the hamlet at which his progress was arrested is still
called Maison du Roi. About three leagues higher up, after crossing
the Guil from bank to bank several times, in order to make use of such
ledges of the rock as are suitable for the road, the gorge opens into
the Combe du Queyras, and very shortly the picturesque-looking Castle
of Queyras comes in sight, occupying the summit of a lofty conical
rock in the middle of the valley.

As we approached Château Queyras the ruins of a building were pointed
out by Mr. Milsom in the bottom of the valley, close by the
river-side. "That," said he, "was once the Protestant temple of the
place. It was burnt to the ground at the Revocation. You see that old
elm-tree growing near it. That tree was at the same time burnt to a
black stump. It became a saying in the valley that Protestantism was
as dead as that stump, and that it would only reappear when that dead
stump came to life! And, strange to say, since Felix Neff has been
here, the stump _has_ come to life--you see how green it is--and again
Protestantism is like the elm-tree, sending out its vigorous
offshoots, in the valley."

Château Queyras stands in the centre of the valley of the Guil, which
is joined near this point by two other valleys, the Combe of Arvieux
joining it on the right bank, and that of San Veran on the left. The
heads of the streams which traverse these valleys have their origin in
the snowy range of the Cottian Alps, which form the boundary between
France and Italy. As in the case of the descendants of the ancient
Vaudois at Dormilhouse, they are here also found at the farthest limit
of vegetation, penetrating almost to the edge of the glacier, where
they were least likely to be molested. The inhabitants of Arvieux were
formerly almost entirely Protestant, and had a temple there, which was
pulled down at the Revocation. From that time down to the Revolution
they worshipped only in secret, occasionally ministered to by Vaudois
pastors, who made precarious visits to them from the Italian valleys
at the risk of their lives.

Above Arvieux is the hamlet of La Chalp, containing a considerable
number of Protestants, and where Neff had his home--a small, low
cottage undistinguishable from the others save by its whitewashed
front. Its situation is cheerful, facing the south, and commanding a
pleasant mountain prospect, contrasting strongly with the barren
outlook and dismal hovels of Dormilhouse. But Neff never could regard
the place as his home. "The inhabitants," he observed in his journal,
"have more traffic, and the mildness of the climate appears somehow or
other not favourable to the growth of piety. They are zealous
Protestants, and show me a thousand attentions, but they are at
present absolutely impenetrable." The members of the congregation at
Arvieux, indeed, complained of his spending so little of his time
among them; but the comfort of his cottage at La Chalp, and the
comparative mildness of the climate of Arvieux, were insufficient to
attract him from the barren crags but warm hearts of Dormilhouse.

The village of San Veran, which lies up among the mountains some
twelve miles to the east of Arvieux, on the opposite side of the Val
Queyras, was another of the refuges of the ancient Vaudois. It is at
the foot of the snowy ridge which divides France from Italy. Dr. Gilly
says, "There is nothing fit for mortal to take refuge in between San
Veran and the eternal snows which mantle the pinnacles of Monte Viso."
The village is 6,692 feet above the level of the sea, and there is a
provincial saying that San Veran is the highest spot in Europe where
bread is eaten. Felix Neff said, "It is the highest, and consequently
the most pious, in the valley of Queyras." Dr. Gilly was the second
Englishman who had ever found his way to the place, and he was
accompanied on the occasion by Mrs. Gilly. "The sight of a female,"
he says, "dressed entirely in linen, was a phenomenon so new to those
simple peasants, whose garments are never anything but woollen, that
Pizarro and his mail-clad companions were not greater objects of
curiosity to the Peruvians than we were to these mountaineers."

Not far distant from San Veran are the mountain hamlets of Pierre
Grosse and Fongillarde, also ancient retreats of the persecuted
Vaudois, and now for the most part inhabited by Protestants. The
remoteness and comparative inaccessibility of these mountain hamlets
may be inferred from the fact that in 1786, when the Protestants of
France were for the first time since the Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes permitted to worship in public without molestation, four years
elapsed before the intelligence reached San Veran.

We have now reached almost the extreme limits of France; Italy lying
on the other side of the snowy peaks which shut in the upper valleys
of the Alps. In Neff's time the parish of which he had charge extended
from San Veran, on the frontier, to Champsaur, in the valley of the
Drac, a distance of nearly eighty miles. His charge consisted of the
scattered population of many mountain hamlets, to visit which in
succession involved his travelling a total distance of not less than
one hundred and eighty miles. It was, of course, impossible that any
single man, no matter how inspired by zeal and devotion, could do
justice to a charge so extensive. The difficulties of passing through
a country so wild and rugged were also very great, especially in
winter. Neff records that on one occasion he took six hours to make
the journey, in the midst of a snow-storm which completely hid the
footpath, from his cottage at La Chalp to San Veran, a distance of
only twelve miles.

The pastors who succeeded Neff had the same difficulties to encounter,
and there were few to be found who could brave them. The want of proper
domestic accommodation for the pastors was also felt to be a great
hindrance. Accordingly, one of the first things to which the Rev. Mr.
Freemantle directed his attention, when he entered upon his noble work
of supplying the spiritual destitution of the French Vaudois, was to
take steps not only to supply the poor people with more commodious
temples, but also to provide dwelling-houses for the pastors. And in the
course of a few years, helped by friends in England, he has been enabled
really to accomplish a very great deal. The extensive parish of Neff is
now divided into five sub-parishes--that of Fressinières, which includes
Palons, Violins, and Dormilhouse, provided with three temples, a
parsonage, and schools; Arvieux, with the hamlets of Brunissard (where
worship was formerly conducted in a stable) and La Chalp, provided with
two temples, a parsonage, and schools; San Veran, with Fongillarde and
Pierre Grosse, provided with three temples, a parsonage, and a school;
St. Laurent du Cros and Champsaur, in the valley of the Drac, provided
with a temple, school, &c., principally through the liberality of Lord
Monson; and Guillestre and Vars, provided with two temples, a parsonage,
and a girls' school. A temple, with a residence for a pastor, has also
of late years been provided at Briançon, with a meeting-place also at
the village of Villeneuve.

Such are the agencies now at work in the district of the High Alps,
helped on by a few zealous workers in England and abroad. While the
object of the pastors, in the words of Mr. Freemantle, is "not to
regard themselves as missionaries to proselytize Roman Catholics, but
as ministers residing among their own people, whose faith, and love,
and holiness they have to promote," they also endeavour to institute
measures with the object of improving the social and domestic
condition of the Vaudois. Thus, in one district--that of St. Laurent
du Cros--a _banque de prévoyance_, or savings-bank, has been
established; and though it was at first regarded with suspicion, it
has gradually made its way and proved of great value, being made use
of by the indigent Roman Catholics as well as Protestant families of
the district. Such efforts and such agencies as these cannot fail to
be followed by blessings, and to be greatly instrumental for good.

Our last night in France was spent in the miserable little town of
Abries, situated immediately at the foot of the Alpine ridge which
separates France from Italy. On reaching the principal hotel, or
rather auberge, we found every bed taken; but a peep into the dark and
dirty kitchen, which forms the entrance-hall of the place, made us
almost glad that there was no room for us in that inn. We turned out
into the wet streets to find a better; but though we succeeded in
finding beds in a poor house in a back lane, little can be said in
their praise. We were, however, supplied with a tolerable dinner, and
contrived to pass the night in rest, and to start refreshed early on
the following morning on our way to the Vaudois valleys of Piedmont.

[Illustration: Valley of Luserne.]




CHAPTER VI.

THE VALLEY OF THE PELICE--LA TOUR--ANGROGNA--THE PRA DU TOUR.


The village of Abries is situated close to the Alpine ridge, the
summit of which marks the boundary between France and Italy. On the
other side lie the valleys of Piedmont, in which the French Vaudois
were accustomed to take refuge when persecution ravaged their own
valleys, passing by the mountain-road we were now about to travel, as
far as La Tour, in the valley of the Pelice.

Although there are occasional villages along the route, there is no
good resting-place for travellers short of La Tour, some twenty-six
miles distant from Abries; and as it was necessary that we should walk
the distance, the greater part of the road being merely a track,
scarcely practicable for mules, we were up betimes in the morning, and
on our way. The sun had scarcely risen above the horizon. The mist
was still hanging along the mountain-sides, and the stillness of the
scene was only broken by the murmur of the Guil running in its rocky
bed below. Passing through the hamlet of Monta, where the French
douane has its last frontier station, we began the ascent; and soon,
as the sun rose and the mists cleared away, we saw the profile of the
mountain up which we were climbing cast boldly upon the range behind
us on the further side of the valley. A little beyond the ravine of
the Combe de la Croix, along the summit of which the road winds, we
reached the last house within the French frontier--a hospice, not very
inviting in appearance, for the accommodation of travellers. A little
further is the Col, and passing a stone block carved with the
fleur-de-lis and cross of Savoy, we crossed the frontier of France and
entered Italy.

On turning a shoulder of the mountain, we looked down upon the head of
the valley of the Pelice, a grand and savage scene. The majestic,
snow-capped Monte Viso towers up on the right, at the head of the
valley, amidst an assemblage of other great mountain masses. From its
foot seems to steal the river Pelice, now a quiet rivulet, though in
winter a raging torrent. Right in front, lower down the valley, is the
rocky defile of Mirabouc, a singularly savage gorge, seemingly rent
asunder by some tremendous convulsion of nature; beyond and over which
extends the valley of the Pelice, expanding into that of the Po, and
in the remote distance the plains of Piedmont; while immediately
beneath our feet, as it were, but far below, lies a considerable
breadth of green pasture, the Bergerie of Pra, enclosed on all sides
by the mountains over which we look.

The descent from the Col down into the Pra is very difficult, in some
places almost precipitous--far more abrupt than on the French side,
where the incline up to the summit is comparatively easy.

The zigzag descends from one rock to another, along the face of a
shelving slope, by a succession of notches (from which the footpath is
not inappropriately termed _La Coche_) affording a very insecure
footing for the few mules which occasionally cross the pass. Dr. Gilly
crossed here from La Tour with Mrs. Gilly in 1829, when about to visit
the French valleys; but he found the path so difficult and dangerous,
that the lady had to walk nearly the whole way.

As we descended the mountain almost by a succession of leaps, we
overtook M. Gariod, deputy judge of Gap, engaged in botanizing among
the rocks; and he informed us that among the rarer specimens he had
collected in the course of his journey on the summit were the
_Polygonum alpinum_ and _Silene vallesia_, above Monta; the
_Leucanthemum alpinum_, near the Hospice; the _Linaria alpina_ and
_Cirsium spinosissimus_ on the Col; while the _Lloydia serotina_,
_Arabis alpina_, _Phyteuma hemisphericum_, and _Rhododendrum
ferrugineum_, were found all over the face of the rocky descent to the
Pra.

At the foot of the _Coche_ we arrived at the first house in Italy, the
little auberge of the Pra, a great resort of sportsmen, who come to
hunt the chamois in the adjoining mountains during the season. Here is
also the usual customs station, with a few officers of the Italian
douane, to watch the passage of merchandise across the frontier.

The road from hence to la Tour is along the river Pelice, which is
kept in sight nearly the whole way. A little below the Pra, where it
enters the defile of Mirabouc, the path merely follows what is the
bed of the torrent in winter. The descent is down ledges and notches,
from rock to rock, with rugged precipices overhanging the ravine for
nearly a mile. At its narrowest part stand the ruins of the ancient
fort of Mirabouc, built against the steep escarpments of the mountain,
which, in ancient times, completely commanded and closed the defile
against the passage of an enemy from that quarter. And difficult
though the Col de la Croix is for the passage of an army, it has on
more than one occasion been passed by French detachments in their
invasion of Italy.

It is not until we reach Bobi, or Bobbio, several miles lower down the
Pelice, that we at last feel we are in Italy. Here the valley opens
out, the scenery is soft and inviting, the fields are well tilled, the
vegetation is rich, and the clusters of chestnut-trees in magnificent
foliage. We now begin to see the striking difference between the
French and the Italian valleys. The former are precipitous and
sterile, constant falls of slaty rock blocking up the defiles; while
here the mountains lay aside their savage aspects, and are softened
down into picturesquely wooded hills, green pastures, and fertile
fields stretching along the river-sides, yielding a rich territory for
the plough.

Yet, beautiful and peaceful though this valley of the Pelice now
appears, there is scarcely a spot in it but has been consecrated by
the blood of martyrs to the cause of liberty and religion. In the
rugged defile of the Mirabouc, which we have just passed, is the site
of a battle fought between the Piedmontese troops and the Vaudois
peasants, at a place called the Pian-del-Mort, where the persecuted,
turning upon the persecutors, drove them back, and made good their
retreat to their mountain fastnesses. Bobi itself was the scene of
many deadly struggles. A little above the village, on a rocky plateau,
are the remains of an ancient fort, near the hamlet of Sibaud, where
the Vaudois performed one of their bravest exploits under Henri
Arnaud, after their "Glorious Return" from exile,--near which, on a
stone still pointed out, they swore fidelity to each other, and that
they would die to the last man rather than abandon their country and
their religion.

Near Bobi is still to be seen a remarkable illustration of English
interest long ago felt in the people of these valleys. This is the
long embankment or breakwater, built by a grant from Oliver Cromwell,
for the purpose of protecting the village against the inundations of
the Pelice, by one of which it was nearly destroyed in the time of the
Protectorate. It seems strange indeed that England should then have
stretched out its hand so far, to help a people so poor and
uninfluential as the Vaudois; but their sufferings had excited the
sympathies of all Europe, and of Protestant England in particular,
which not only sent them sympathy, but substantial succour. Cromwell
also, through the influence of Cardinal Mazarin, compelled the Duke of
Savoy to suspend for a time the persecution of his subjects,--though
shortly after the Protector's death it waxed hotter than ever.

All down the valley of the Pelice, we come upon village after
village--La Piante, Villar, and Cabriol--which have been the scenes
sometimes of heroic combats, and sometimes of treacherous massacres.
Yet all the cruelty of Grand Dukes and Popes during centuries did not
avail in turning the people of the valley from their faith. For they
continue to worship after the same primitive forms as they did a
thousand years ago; and in the principal villages and hamlets, though
Romanism has long been supported by the power of the State and the
patronage of the Church, the Protestant Vaudois continue to constitute
the majority of the population.

Rising up on the left of the road, between Villar and La Tour, are
seen the bold and almost perpendicular rocks of Castelluzzo,
terminating in the tower-like summit which has given to them their
name. On the face of these rocks is one of the caverns in which the
Vaudois were accustomed to hide their women and children when they
themselves were forced to take the field. When Dr. Gilly first
endeavoured to discover this famous cavern in 1829, he could not find
any one who could guide him to it. Tradition said it was half way down
the perpendicular face of the rock, and it was known to be very
difficult to reach; but the doctor could not find any traces of it.
Determined, however, not to be baffled, he made a second attempt a
month later, and succeeded. He had to descend some fifty feet from the
top of the cliff by a rope ladder, until a platform of rock was
reached, from which the cavern was entered. It was found to consist of
an irregular, rugged, sloping gallery in the face of the rock, of
considerable extent, roofed in by a projecting crag. It is quite open
to the south, but on all other sides it is secure; and it can only be
entered from above. Such were the places to which the people of the
valleys were driven for shelter in the dark days so happily passed
away.

One of the best indications of the improved _régime_ that now
prevails, shortly presented itself in the handsome Vaudois church,
situated at the western entrance of the town of La Tour, near to which
is the college for the education of Vaudois pastors, together with
residences for the clergy and professors. The founding of this
establishment, as well as of the hospital for the poor and infirm
Vaudois, is in a great measure due to the energetic zeal of the Dr.
Gilly so often quoted above, whose writings on behalf of the faithful
but destitute Protestants of the Piedmontese valleys, about forty
years since, awakened an interest in their behalf in England, as well
as in foreign countries, which has not yet subsided.

More enthusiastic, if possible, even than Dr. Gilly, was the late
General Beckwith, who followed up, with extraordinary energy, the work
which the other had so well begun. The general was an old Peninsular
veteran, who had followed the late Duke of Wellington through most of
his campaigns, and lost a leg while serving under him at the battle of
Waterloo. Hence the designation of him by a Roman Catholic bishop in
an article published by him in one of the Italian journals, as "the
adventurer with the wooden leg."

The general's attention was first attracted to the subject of the
Vaudois in the following curiously accidental way. Being a regular
visitor at Apsley House, he called on the Duke one morning, and,
finding him engaged, he strolled into the library to spend an idle
half-hour among the books. The first he took up was Dr. Gilly's
"Narrative," and what he read excited so lively an interest in his
mind that he went direct to his bookseller and ordered all the
publications relative to the Vaudois Church that could be procured.

The general's zeal being thus fired, he set out shortly after on a
visit to the Piedmontese valleys. He returned to them again and again,
and at length settled at La Tour, where he devoted the remainder of
his life and a large portion of his fortune to the service of the
Vaudois Church and people. He organized a movement for the erection
of schools, of which not fewer than one hundred and twenty were
provided mainly through his instrumentality in different parts of the
valleys, besides restoring and enlarging the college at La Tour,
erecting the present commodious dwellings for the professors,
providing a superior school for the education of pastors' daughters,
and contributing towards the erection of churches wherever churches
were needed.

The general was so zealous a missionary, so eager for the propagation
of the Gospel, that some of his friends asked him why he did not
preach to the people. "No," said he; "men have their special gifts,
and mine is _a brick-and-mortar gift_." The general was satisfied to
go on as he had begun, helping to build schools, colleges, and
churches for the Vaudois, wherever most needed. His crowning work was
the erection of the grand block of buildings on the Viale del Ré at
Turin, which not only includes a handsome and commodious Vaudois
church, but an English church, and a Vaudois hospital and schools,
erected at a cost of about fourteen thousand pounds, principally at
the cost of the general himself, generously aided by Mr. Brewin and
other English contributors.

Nor were the people ungrateful to their benefactor. "Let the name of
General Beckwith be blessed by all who pass this way," says an
inscription placed upon one of the many schools opened through his
efforts and generosity; and the whole country responds to the
sentiment.

To return to La Tour. The style of the buildings at its western
end--the church, college, residences, and adjoining cottages, with
their pretty gardens in front, designed, as they have been, by English
architects--give one the idea of the best part of an English town.
But this disappears as you enter the town itself, and proceed through
the principal street, which is long, narrow, and thoroughly Italian.
The situation of the town is exceedingly fine, at the foot of the
Vandalin Mountain, near the confluence of the river Angrogna with the
Pelice. The surrounding scenery is charming; and from the high
grounds, north and south of the town, extensive views may be had in
all directions--especially up the valley of the Pelice, and eastward
over the plains of Piedmont--the whole country being, as it were,
embroidered with vineyards, corn-fields, and meadows, here and there
shaded with groves and thickets, spread over a surface varied by
hills, and knolls, and undulating slopes.

The size, importance, industry, and central situation of La Tour have
always caused it to be regarded as the capital of the valleys.
One-half of the Vaudois population occupies the valley of the Pelice
and the lateral valley of Angrogna; the remainder, more widely
scattered, occupying the valleys of Pérouse and Pragela, and the
lateral valley of St. Martin--the entire number of the Protestant
population in the several valleys amounting to about twenty thousand.

Although, as we have already said, there is scarcely a hamlet in the
valleys but has been made famous by the resistance of its inhabitants
in past times to the combined tyranny of the Popes of Rome and the
Dukes of Savoy, perhaps the most interesting events of all have
occurred in the neighbourhood of La Tour, but more especially in the
valley of Angrogna, at whose entrance it stands.

The wonder is, that a scattered community of half-armed peasantry,
without resources, without magazines, without fortresses, should have
been able for any length of time to resist large bodies of regular
troops--Italian, French, Spanish, and even Irish!--led by the most
experienced commanders of the day, and abundantly supplied with arms,
cannon, ammunition, and stores of all kinds. All that the people had
on their side--and it compensated for much--was a good cause, great
bravery, and a perfect knowledge of the country in which, and for
which, they fought.

Though the Vaudois had no walled towns, their district was a natural
fortress, every foot of which was known to them--every pass, every
defile, every barricade, and every defensible position. Resistance in
the open country, they knew, would be fatal to them. Accordingly,
whenever assailed by their persecutors, they fled to their mountain
strongholds, and there waited the attack of the enemy.

One of the strongest of such places--the Thermopylæ of the
Vaudois--was the valley of Angrogna, up which the inhabitants of La
Tour were accustomed to retreat on any sudden invasion by the army of
Savoy. The valley is one of exquisite beauty, presenting a combination
of mingled picturesqueness and sublimity, the like of which is rarely
to be seen. It is hemmed in by mountains, in some places rounded and
majestic, in others jagged and abrupt. The sides of the valley are in
many places finely wooded, while in others well-tilled fields,
pastures, and vineyards slope down to the river-side. Orchards are
succeeded by pine-woods, and these again by farms and gardens.
Sometimes a little cascade leaps from a rock on its way to the valley
below; and little is heard around, save the rippling of water, and the
occasional lowing of cattle in the pastures, mingled with the music of
their bells.

Shortly after entering the valley, we passed the scene of several
terrible struggles between the Vaudois and their persecutors. One of
the most famous spots is the plateau of Rochemalan, where the heights
of St. John abut upon the mountains of Angrogna. It was shortly after
the fulmination of a bull of extermination against the Vaudois by Pope
Innocent VIII., in 1486, that an army of eighteen thousand regular
French and Piedmontese troops, accompanied by a horde of brigands to
whom the remission of sins was promised on condition of their helping
to slay the heretics, encircled the valleys and proceeded to assail
the Vaudois in their fastnesses. The Papal legate, Albert Catanée,
Archdeacon of Cremona, had his head-quarters at Pignerol, from whence
he superintended the execution of the Pope's orders. First, he sent
preaching monks up the valleys to attempt the conversion of the
Vaudois before attacking them with arms. But the peasantry refused to
be converted, and fled to their strongholds in the mountains.

Then Catanée took the field at the head of his army, advancing upon
Angrogna. He extended his lines so as to enclose the entire body of
heretics, with the object of cutting them off to a man. The Vaudois,
however, defended themselves resolutely, though armed only with pikes,
swords, and bows and arrows, and everywhere beat back the assailants.
The severest struggle occurred at Rochemalan, which the crusaders
attacked with great courage. But the Vaudois had the advantage of the
higher ground, and, encouraged by the cries and prayers of the women,
children, and old men whom they were defending, they impetuously
rushed forward and drove the Papal troops downhill in disorder,
pursuing them into the very plain.

The next day the Papalini renewed the attack, ascending by the bottom
of the valley, instead of by the plateau on which they had been
defeated. But one of those dense mists, so common in the Alps, having
settled down upon the valley, the troops became confused, broken up,
and entangled in difficult paths; and in this state, marching
apprehensively, they were fallen upon by the Vaudois and again
completely defeated. Many of the soldiers slid over the rocks and were
drowned in the torrent,--the chasm into which the captain of the
detachment (Saquet de Planghère) fell, being still known as _Toumpi de
Saquet_, or Saquet's Hole.

The resistance of the mountaineers at other points, in the valleys of
Pragela and St. Martin, having been almost equally successful, Catanée
withdrew the Papal army in disgust, and marched it back into France,
to wreak his vengeance on the defenceless Vaudois of the Val Louise,
in the manner described in a preceding chapter.

Less than a century later, a like attempt was made to force the
entrance to the valley of Angrogna, by an army of Italians and
Spaniards, under the command of the Count de la Trinité. A
proclamation had been published, and put up in the villages of
Angrogna, to the effect that all would be destroyed by fire and sword
who did not forthwith return to the Church of Rome. And as the
peasantry did not return, on the 2nd November, 1560, the Count
advanced at the head of his army to extirpate the heretics. The
Vaudois were provided with the rudest sort of weapons; many of them
had only slings and cross-bows. But they felt strong in the goodness
of their cause, and prepared to defend themselves to the death.

As the Count's army advanced, the Vaudois retired until they reached
the high ground near Rochemalan, where they took their stand. The
enemy followed, and halted in the valley beneath, lighting their
bivouac fires, and intending to pass the night there. Before darkness
fell, however, an accidental circumstance led to an engagement. A
Vaudois boy, who had got hold of a drum, began beating it in a ravine
close by. The soldiers, thinking a hostile troop had arrived, sprang
up in disorder and seized their arms. The Vaudois, on their part,
seeing the movement, and imagining that an attack was about to be made
on them, rushed forward to repel it. The soldiers, surprised and
confused, for the most part threw away their arms, and fled down the
valley. Irritated by this disgraceful retreat of some twelve hundred
soldiers before two hundred peasants, the Count advanced a second
time, and was again, repulsed by the little band of heroes, who
charged his troops with loud shouts of "Viva Jesu Christo!" driving
the invaders in confusion down the valley.

It may be mentioned that the object of the Savoy general, in making
this attack, was to force the valley, and capture the strong position
of the Pra du Tour, the celebrated stronghold of the Vaudois, from
whence we shall afterwards find them, again driven back, baffled and
defeated.

A hundred years passed, and still the Vaudois remained unconverted and
unexterminated. The Marquis of Pianesse now advanced upon
Angrogna--always with the same object, "ad extirpandos hereticos," in
obedience to the order of the Propaganda. On this occasion not only
Italian and Spanish but Irish troops were engaged in a combined effort
to exterminate the Vaudois. The Irish were known as "the assassins"
by the people of the valleys, because of their almost exceptional
ferocity; and the hatred they excited by their outrages on women and
children was so great, that on the assault and capture of St. Legont
by the Vaudois peasantry, an Irish regiment surprised in barracks was
completely destroyed.

A combined attack was made on Angrogna on the 15th of June, 1655. On
that day four separate bodies of troops advanced up the heights from
different directions, thereby enclosing the little Vaudois army of
three hundred men assembled there, and led by the heroic Javanel. This
leader first threw himself upon the head of the column which advanced
from Rocheplate, and drove it downhill. Then he drew off his little
body towards Rochemalan, when he suddenly found himself opposed by the
two bodies which had come up from St. John and La Tour. Retiring
before them, he next found himself face to face with the fourth
detachment, which had come up from Pramol. With the quick instinct of
military genius, Javanel threw himself upon it before the beaten
Rocheplate detachment were able to rally and assail him in flank; and
he succeeded in cutting the Pramol force in two and passing through
it, rushing up to the summit of the hill, on which he posted himself.
And there he stood at bay.

This hill is precipitous on one side, but of comparatively easy ascent
on the side up which the little band of heroes had ascended. At the
foot of the slope the four detachments, three thousand against three
hundred, drew up and attacked him; but firing from a distance, their
aim was not very deadly. For five hours Javanel resisted them as he
best could, and then, seeing signs of impatience and hesitation in the
enemy's ranks, he called out to his men, "Forward, my friends!" and
they rushed downhill like an avalanche. The three thousand men
recoiled, broke, and fled before the three hundred; and Javanel
returned victorious to his entrenchments before Angrogna.

Yet, again, some eight years later, in 1663, was this neighbourhood
the scene of another contest, and again was Javanel the hero. On this
occasion, the Marquis de Fleury led the troops of the Duke of Savoy,
whose object, as before, was to advance up the valley, and assail the
Vaudois stronghold of Pra du Tour; and again the peasantry resisted
them successfully, and drove them back into the plains. Javanel then
went to rejoin a party of the men whom he had posted at the "Gates of
Angrogna" to defend the pass up the valley; and again he fell upon the
enemy engaged in attempting to force a passage there, and defeated
them with heavy loss.

Such are among the exciting events which have occurred in this one
locality in connection with the Vaudois struggle for country and
liberty.

Let us now proceed up the valley of Angrogna, towards the famous
stronghold of the Pra du Tour, the object of those repeated attacks of
the enemy in the neighbourhood of Rochemalan. As we advance, the
mountains gradually close in upon the valley, leaving a comparatively
small width of pasture land by the river-side. At the hamlet of Serre
the carriage road ends; and from thence the valley grows narrower, the
mountains which enclose it become more rugged and abrupt, until there
is room enough only for a footpath along a rocky ledge, and the
torrent running in its deep bed alongside. This continues for a
considerable distance, the path in some places being overhung by
precipices, or encroached upon by rocks and boulders fallen from the
heights, until at length we emerge from the defile, and find ourselves
in a comparatively open space, the famous Pra du Tour; the defile we
have passed, alongside the torrent and overhung by the rocks, being
known as the Barricade.

The Pra du Tour, or Meadow of the Tower, is a little amphitheatre
surrounded by rugged and almost inaccessible mountains, situated at
the head of the valley of Angrogna. The steep slopes bring down into
this deep dell the headwaters of the torrent, which escape among the
rocks down the defile we have just ascended. The path up the defile
forms the only approach to the Pra from the valley, but it is so
narrow, tortuous, and difficult, that the labours of only a few men in
blocking up the pathway with rocks and stones that lie ready at hand,
might at any time so barricade the approach as to render it
impracticable. The extremely secluded position of the place, its
natural strength and inaccessibility, and its proximity to the
principal Vaudois towns and villages, caused it to be regarded from
the earliest times as their principal refuge. It was their fastness,
their fortress, and often their home. It was more--it was their school
and college; for in the depths of the Pra du Tour the pastors, or
_barbas_,[107] educated young men for the ministry, and provided for
the religious instruction of the Vaudois population.

         [Footnote 107: _Barba_--a title of respect; in the Vaudois
         dialect literally signifying an _uncle_.]

It was the importance of the Pra du Tour as a stronghold that rendered
it so often the object of attack through the valley of Angrogna. When
the hostile troops of Savoy advanced upon La Tour, the inhabitants of
the neighbouring valleys at once fled to the Pra, into which they
drove their cattle, and carried what provisions they could; there
constructing mills, ovens, houses, and all that was requisite for
subsistence, as in a fort. The men capable of bearing arms stood on
their guard to defend the passes of the Vachére and Roussine, at the
extreme heads of the valley, as well as the defile of the Barricade,
while other bodies, stationed lower down, below the Barricade,
prepared to resist the troops seeking to force an entrance up the
valley; and hence the repeated battles in the neighbourhood of
Rochemalan above described.

On the occasion of the defeat of the Count de la Trinité by the little
Vaudois band near the village of Angrogna, in November, 1560, the
general drew off, and waited the arrival of reinforcements. A large
body of Spanish veterans having joined him, in the course of the
following spring he again proceeded up the valley, determined, if
possible, to force the Barricade--the royal forces now numbering some
seven thousand men, all disciplined troops. The peasants, finding
their first position no longer tenable in the face of such numbers,
abandoned Angrogna and the lower villages, and retired, with the whole
population, to the Pra du Tour. The Count followed them with his main
army, at the same time directing two other bodies of troops to advance
upon the place round by the mountains, one by the heights of the
Vachére, and another by Les Fourests. The defenders of the Pra would
thus be assailed from three sides at once, their forces divided, and
victory rendered certain.

But the Count did not calculate upon the desperate bravery of the
defenders. All three bodies were beaten back in succession. For four
days the Count made every effort to force the defile, and failed. Two
colonels, eight captains, and four hundred men fell in these desperate
assaults, without gaining an inch of ground. On the fifth day a
combined attack was made with the reserve, composed of Spanish
companies, but this, too, failed; and the troops, when ordered to
return to the charge, refused to obey. The Count, who commanded, is
said to have wept as he sat on a rock and looked upon so many of his
dead--the soldiers themselves exclaiming, "God fights for these
people, and we do them wrong!"

About a hundred years later, the Marquis de Pianesse, who, like the
Count de la Trinité, had been defeated at Rochemalan, made a similar
attempt to surprise the Vaudois stronghold, with a like result. The
peasants were commanded on this occasion by John Leger, the pastor and
historian. Those who were unarmed hurled rocks and stones on the
assailants from the heights; and the troops being thus thrown into
confusion, the Vaudois rushed from behind their ramparts, and drove
them in a state of total rout down the valley.

On entering the Pra du Tour, one of the most prominent objects that
meets the eye is the Roman Catholic chapel recently erected there,
though the few inhabitants of the district are still almost entirely
Protestant. The Roman Catholic Church has, however, now done what the
Roman Catholic armies failed to do--established itself in the midst of
the Vaudois stronghold, though by no means in the hearts of the
people.

Desirous of ascertaining, if possible, the site of the ancient
college, we proceeded up the Pra, and hailed a young woman whom we
observed crossing the rustic bridge over the Pêle, one of the mountain
rivulets running into the torrent of Angrogna. Inquiring of her as to
the site of the college, she told us we had already passed it, and led
us back to the place--up the rocky side of the hill leading to the
Vachére--past the cottage where she herself lived, and pointed to the
site: "There," she said, "is where the ancient college of the Vaudois
stood." The old building has, however, long since been removed, the
present structure being merely part of a small farmsteading. Higher up
the steep hill-side, on successive ledges of rock, are the ruins of
various buildings, some of which may have been dwellings, and one,
larger than the rest, on a broader plateau, with an elder-tree growing
in the centre, may possibly have been the temple.

From the higher shelves on this mountain-side the view is extremely
wild and grand. The acclivities which surround the head of the Pra
seem as if battlemented walls; the mountain opposite throws its sombre
shadow over the ravine in which the torrent runs; whilst, down the
valley, rock seems piled on rock, and mountain on mountain. All is
perfectly still, and the silence is only audible by the occasional
tinkling of a sheep-bell, or the humming of a bee in search of flowers
on the mountain-side. So peaceful and quiet is the place, that it is
difficult to believe it could ever have been the scene of such deadly
strife, and rung with the shouts of men thirsting for each other's
blood.

After lingering about the place until the sun was far on his way
towards the horizon, we returned, by the road we had come, the valley
seeming more beautiful than ever under the glow of evening, and
arrived at our destination about dusk, to find the fireflies darting
about the streets of La Tour.

The next day saw us at Turin, and our summer excursion at an end. Mr.
Milsom, who had so pleasantly accompanied me through the valleys, had
been summoned to attend the death-bed of a friend at Antibes, and he
set out on the journey forthwith. While still there, he received a
telegram intimating the death of his daughter at Allevard, near
Grenoble, and he arrived only in time to attend her funeral. Two
months later, he lost another dear daughter; shortly after, his
mother-in-law died; and in the following December he himself died
suddenly of heart disease, and followed them to the grave.

One could not but conceive a hearty liking for Edward Milsom--he was
such a thoroughly good man. He was a native of London, but spent the
greater part of his life at Lyons, in France, where he long since
settled and married. He there carried on a large business as a silk
merchant, but was always ready to give a portion of his time and money
to help forward any good work. He was an "ancien," or elder, of the
Evangelical church at Lyons, originally founded by Adolphe Monod, to
whom he was also related by marriage.

Some years since he was very much interested by the perusal of Pastor
Bost's account of his visit to the scene of Felix Neff's labours in
the High Alps. He felt touched by the simple, faithful character of
the people, and keenly sympathised with their destitute condition.
"Here," said he, "is a field in which I may possibly be of some use."
And he at once went to their help. He visited the district of
Fressinières, including the hamlet of Dormilhouse, as well as the more
distant villages of Arvieux and Sans Veran, up the vale of Queyras;
and nearly every year thereafter he devoted a certain portion of his
time in visiting the poorer congregations of the district, giving them
such help and succour as lay in his power.

His repeated visits made him well known to the people of the valleys,
who valued him as a friend, if they did not even love him as a
brother. His visits were also greatly esteemed by the pastors, who
stood much in need of encouragement and help. He cheered the wavering,
strengthened the feeble-hearted, and stimulated all to renewed life
and action. Wherever he went, a light seemed to shine in his path; and
when he departed, he was followed by many blessings.

In one place he would arrange for the opening of a new place of
worship; in another, for the opening of a boys' school; in a third,
for the industrial employment of girls; and wherever there was any
little heartburning or jealousy to be allayed, he would set himself to
remove it. His admirable tact, his unfailing temper, and excellent
good sense, rendered him a wise counsellor and a most successful
conciliator.

The last time Mr. Milsom visited England, towards the end of 1869, he
was occupied, as usual, in collecting subscriptions for the poor
Vaudois of the High Alps. Now that the good "merchant missionary" has
rested from his labours, they will indeed feel the loss of their
friend. Who is to assume his mantle?




CHAPTER VII

THE GLORIOUS RETURN:

AN EPISODE IN THE HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN VAUDOIS.


What is known as The Glorious Return, or re-entry of the exiled
Vaudois in 1689 to resume possession of the valleys from which they
had been banished, will always stand out as one of the most remarkable
events in history.

If ever a people fairly established their right to live in their own
country, and to worship God after their own methods, the Vaudois had
surely done so. They had held conscientiously and consistently to
their religion for nearly five hundred years, during which they
laboured under many disabilities and suffered much persecution. But
the successive Dukes of Savoy were no better satisfied with them as
subjects than before. They could not brook that any part of their
people should be of a different form of religion from that professed
by themselves; and they continued, at the instance of successive
popes, to let slip the dogs of war upon the valleys, in the hopes of
eventually compelling the Vaudois to "come in" and make their peace
with the Church.

The result of these invasions was almost uniform. At the first sudden
inroad of the troops, the people, taken by surprise, usually took to
flight; on which their dwellings were burnt and their fields laid
waste. But when they had time to rally and collect their forces, the
almost invariable result was that the Piedmontese were driven out of
the valleys again with ignominy and loss. The Duke's invasion of 1655
was, however, attended with greater success than usual. His armies
occupied the greater part of the valleys, though the Vaudois still
held out, and made occasional successful sallies from their mountain
fastnesses. At length, the Protestants of the Swiss Confederation,
taking compassion on their co-religionists in Piedmont, sent
ambassadors to the Duke of Savoy at Turin to intercede for their
relief; and the result was the amnesty granted to them in that year
under the title of the "Patents of Grace." The terms were very hard,
but they were agreed to. The Vaudois were to be permitted to re-occupy
their valleys, conditional on their rebuilding all the Catholic
churches which had been destroyed, paying to the Duke an indemnity of
fifty thousand francs, and ceding to him the richest lands in the
valley of Luzerna--the last relics of their fortunes being thus taken
from them to remunerate the barbarity of their persecutors.