elders, after a suitable prayer and address to the mistress and children, on the 2nd of January, 1829. Similar establishments were set on foot through the exertions made by Mr. Sims, at La Torre, Angrogna, and Prarustino; but I am afraid that the two latter are likely to be discontinued for want of funds necessary to support them. It will, indeed, be grievous, if such blessings must be withdrawn, after they have been experienced and appreciated. That at La Torre is extremely well regulated and managed.

The following are the regulations by which these schools are conducted.

The mistresses must be qualified to teach reading, writing, needlework, knitting, and the works necessary to the duties of the sex. Salary, 300 francs a-year.

The number conveniently admissible at each school, is supposed to be twenty-five, but it is not strictly limited.

All classes of children are eligible for admission, but none should be received without the approbation of the pastor.

The children of the villages and hamlets in the vicinity of those, where the school is held, are admissible.

In summer, the school hours are from 8 to 11, and from 1 to 4. In the winter, from 9 to 12, and from 1 to 3.

The success of the institutions depending upon

the Divine blessing, the school must begin and end with prayer every day.

One child shall be reading a portion of Scripture, while the rest are engaged in needlework, &c.

The work of one day in the week shall be devoted to the benefit of the hospital or dispensary, the materials for such work being provided for the purpose.

CHAPTER X.

Deliberations on the Restoration of some of the ancient Institutions of the Vaudois.

AFTER spending three weeks in the valley of Luserna, I was anxious to make a circuit of the upper valleys of San Martino and Perosa, with the intention of conferring with the pastors there, upon the projects which I had now well considered, in concert with those of the lower valleys to whom I had communicated them.

M. Bonjour, the pasteur-chapelain, who was entirely in my confidence, offered to accompany me, to explain the objects I had in view, and the proposed destination of the funds placed at my disposal. These were not any part of a public subscription, but private funds, over which I had the sole control, and which I might appropriate in such manner, as should appear to me to be most beneficial to the Protestant cause in the valleys of Piemont.

After much reflection and long deliberations with persons competent to give an opinion, I was

encouraged to hope that a scheme which combined the endowment of a college, with the restoration of an uniform church service and discipline', upon old Waldensian principles, would be sanctioned and promoted, not only by the Vaudois pastors individually, but also by the officers of the Table, in their official capacity, as the constituted authorities of the community, and by the people at large. In this there was nothing new or offensive to common prejudices, it was simply a recurrence to the ancient order of things, and a response to the public voice, which had long said, "Give us, if possible, our former institutions— those institutions which made our Zion the city of God, and the mountain of his holiness.'

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The means, which I had at command were sufficient to lay a foundation, and to promise success, provided the plan should meet with approbation, and be well seconded by the Vaudois themselves. There were these reasons for supposing that it would be well received.

The Vaudois had formerly a college of their own, to the recollection of which they still hold with national fondness, although not a vestige of its existence remains. It has often been in con

1 The 11th article of the synod, held September 1828, was to the following effect: "a communication having been made to the synod touching, un projet de discipline ecclésiastique,' Resolved that this project be revised, and presented at the next synod." Thus the question had been already agitated.

templation to restore it, but there has never yet been any helping hand to enable them to do so. When the Waldenses were in treaty with Henry IV. in 1592, at the time of the annexation of the province of Pinerolo to France, it formed one of the articles, "that His Majesty should be pleased to found, erect, and maintain a college for the instruction of the youth in their own valleys."Brezzi, to whom I have often alluded, pressed this object upon his countrymen, and their benefactors, about forty years ago, with all the eloquence and argument which he could employ, and about eight years ago a similar project was handed about the valleys.

An institution, (call it by what name you will, a college, or a superior school, in the modest terms suggested by the Vaudois themselves) reestablished upon a comprehensive system, might give a stir to the whole body, and might also produce an impulse, not only in the immediate vicinity, but also in other parts. For this purpose, it must be so conducted, as, 1st. to give a sound preparatory education to the young men intended for holy orders; 2dly. to train school-masters: and, 3dly. to instruct youth destined to other professions, in such branches of knowledge as may be necessary to their success in life.

Brezzi attributed the alleged degeneracy1 of the

Those who complain most of the degeneracy of the Vaudois, guard their observations, by adding, that it is in comparison