grotto of the barbes of old. That the Pra del Tor was the scene of their most solemn convocations, and that somewhere, within the sanctuaries enclosed by the magnificent mountains which rose in panorama above us, they instructed their youth, there can be no doubt; it is exactly the theatre of such doings. Whether they sought for safety, for concealment, or for opportunities of contemplation, here they had it. It is in the very centre of the valleys: every thing around is stamped with the seal of the Creator's greatness and eternity. Objects of unrivalled grandeur and sublimity appeal to the eye and to the fancy. The Pra del Tor is like one vast monastery, where every thing combines to invite to meditation, study, and devotion. Its solitudes, its groves, its waters, its beautiful and gigantic features possess all the fascination, by which contemplative minds are supposed to be most affected. Præsentiorem conspicimus Deum Inter aquas, nemorumque noctem. It is the belief of the Roman Catholics, quite as much as of the Vaudois themselves, that this region is famous in the ancient history of the Waldensian Church; and therefore it is that they are now so anxious to make it their own, and to triumph in the boast, that the place which was formerly desecrated by heretics, is now consecrated by Romish piety. A very handsome little church, neatly built, was just ready to be dedicated to some saint in the Latin calendar, when we were there, and every effort was made to proselytise the natives of the hamlet. The church is about forty feet by twenty-six; the ceiling is painted, and the decorations are in good taste. It stands on ground which belonged to a Protestant, who was unwilling to alienate it, and especially for the purpose for which it was intended; but he had a hint given to him, which reduced him to submission, and bongre! malgre! the poor fellow was obliged to surrender the inheritance of his fathers upon Ahab's terms. This proceeding is mortifying to the Protestants, but it speaks in honour of the antiquity of the Vaudois Church, and its traditionary college. There would not be so much anxiety to occupy the Pra del Tor, or to build there an expensive church, but for its ancient reputation. We returned to San Margarita by the lower hamlets of Angrogna, and by the eastern bank of the torrent. CHAPTER XIV. Journey to Val Queiras, and Val Frassynière. Felix Neff. The passes of the Col de la Croix. The Bergerie du Pra. The Chamois Hunter. Preaching on the Mountains. San Veran. Arvieux. Dormilleuse. In the course of this work, I have made frequent mention of the Waldenses of Dauphiné and Provence. They were for the most part exterminated under the reign of Francis I. of France. "What," said that monarch, in one of his moments of zealous attachment to the Pope, and compliance with his wishes, “shall I exert all my influence to destroy the Lutherans in Germany, and suffer heresy to flourish in my own dominions?" The carnage committed by his orders was frightful; but some of the proscribed found refuge in mountains covered with snow three quarters of the year, where the rage of the elements, dreadful as it is, was less destructive than that of man. De Thou, the historian, gives a deeply interesting account of a remnant of the Waldenses inhabiting the savage wilds of Val Frassynière in the sixteenth century. According to his representation, the natives of this district were, in their moral and religious cultivation, amidst such scenes of desolation and squalid wretchedness, as the mind can scarcely imagine, an example for the most civilised people in Europe. (See Thuani Hist. Lib. 27.) Allix speaks of the storm of Papal fury which swept this tract of country in the fifteenth century'. I had long entertained a strong desire of exploring the Alpine valleys in the French territory, where the last traces of the Waldenses of that region were left. This feeling was greatly increased by learning that a branch of the venerable stock yet survived, and that families were to be found, both in Val Frassynière and in Val Queiras, which have remained true to the primitive faith from father to son, even to the present age, though the sword had been suspended over their heads from the reign of Philip Augustus, of atrocious memory, to that of Louis XVI. But these valleys are so remote from all the common routes, so repulsive from their situation among the highest and bleakest of the French Alps, that I almost despaired of ever finding my way to them. A short time before my second journey to Pie 1 Allix quotes from the MSS. contained in Vol. G. of the Morland Collection, see p. 324. The lost MSS. must therefore have been safe in the University Library of Cambridge in 1689, and the conjecture, that Morland omitted to send this portion of the Waldensian papers, falls to the ground. mont, the kindness of Mr. Francis Cunningham had put me in possession of some particulars, which made me resolve to cross from the valleys of Piemont to those of Dauphiné, and to extend my researches among the descendants of the Vaudois of France, who had escaped the crusades of Francis I., and the dragonades or Bourbonades, as they should be called, of Louis XIV. and XV. About seven years ago, Felix Neff, a young Swiss clergyman, full of zeal, and devoted to the cause of religion, heard of the existence of these scattered sheep of the wilderness, and penetrated to the most secluded of their retreats. One of these, Dormilleuse, is the highest habitable spot in Europe, a village, whose site is stolen from rock and glacier, and so inclemently situated, and so perilous of approach, that at the sight of it the beholder immediately identifies it with the history of martyrs," of whom the world is not worthy," of wanderers "in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." One of the accounts, which was transmitted to me, of this extraordinary spot, and of the self-denying Neff, who transported himself from the lovely banks of the lake of Geneva, to labour here in his Master's cause, contained the following description: "The valley of Frassynière was the only one left, where the persecuted could find shelter. The most hardy retired to the very edge of the glacier, |