the celebrated cave of Castelluzzo, on the extremity of Mount Vendelin, which, in some of their after struggles, furnished an almost inaccessible retreat to the peasants, who then, and in earlier times, were hunted, like king David, as a partridge on the mountains.

Dr. Gilly has given a particular account of his visit to the cavern of Castelluzzo, by a sort of tunnel or chimney in the cliff, "where," he says, "I let myself down much after the fashion of a climbing-boy descending a chimney." This was after a descent of many feet, by means of "a swinging staircase of rope, which the sharp points of the rock might cut in twain ;" and he adds, "The risk which the men encountered, who descended without the rope ladder, consisted in passing from ledge to ledge, where the hold was very slight and insecure. What, then, must have been the persecution which compelled women and children to trust themselves to the perils of such an enterprise! It is probable, however, that ropes had been used to facilitate the descent, for several places looked as if they had been indented by the friction of cordage. We found the cavern to be an irregular, rugged, sloping gallery, in the face of the rock, of which the jutting crags above formed the roof. At one end also there is a projection of cliff, which sheltered it on that side from the weather. The gallery is wide enough to be secure. some parts the edge overhangs the depth below perpendicularly; at others it shelves

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gently downwards; but in all directions it is quite inaccessible, except from above, and by the tunnel, down which we descended, and which will only admit one person at a time. The term cavern does not exactly apply to it: it does not penetrate deep enough into the rock, and it is perfectly light in every part. We discovered evident marks of a fountain: but I could not satisfy myself that the gallery would afford an asylum for so many as 300 or 400 fugitives. The arguments against its being the cavern mentioned by Leger are these-1. There are no vestiges of its having been enlarged or improved by artificial means. 2. It no longer answers to the description of being vaulted, and formed like an oven. The form, however, may have been changed from the falling in, or decomposition of the cliff. 3. There are not, and cannot have been any chambers. 4. There are no ovens or resemblance of ovens. But there are large blocks of rock, which may have answered the purpose, before they fell from their places."

Among those mountains considerable changes often take place from the fall of rocks or large stones, and two or three centuries probably have altered this place of refuge.

Philip VII., duke of Savoy, hearing of the disturbances in the valleys of Piedmont, and knowing that the inhabitants had ever been to him obedient and faithful subjects, made farther inquiry concerning them. He was answered by some of the calumnies and rumours

which their adversaries circulated respecting them, and was actually told that their infants were born monsters, with but one eye in their foreheads, four rows of teeth, black throats, and hairy. He ordered some to be brought before him to Pignerol, when, seeing the falsity of these assertions, he determined to favour the Waldenses, and forgive them all that had past during the war, and to grant them all the privileges and liberties which his other subjects enjoyed.

This regal clemency was rendered ineffectual: the ecclesiastics ceased not to apprehend the heretics, as they called them, and whatever favours had been shown by Philip, were done away with by his son and successor, Charles. There was not a town or city in Piedmont that did not present some scene of martyrdom during the next fifty years. The names of many are recorded, as having been burned at this period. One of these, Catelin Girard, at Revel, in the marquisate of Saluces, requested his executioners to give him two stones, when he stood on the block where he was to be burned. They expected to see him fling these at them, but such was not his purpose, he cast them on the ground, first saying, while he held them in his hands, "When I shall have eaten these stones, then ye shall see an end of that religion for which ye put me to death.' The blood of the martyrs has ever been the seed of the church. These persecutions lasted till 1532.

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The Vaudois in Saluces were driven from

their territory in 1500, by the inquisitors, who gained the support of Marguerite de Foix, the widow of the marquis of that district. They took shelter in the valley of Lucerne for five years, and then fought their way back again to their homes, where for many years they continued undisturbed. The marchioness was not the only female persecutor of the Vaudois; the duchess Jolante of Savoy had issued a decree against them in 1476, being probably influenced by the inquisitors. There have in every region been found the slaves of superstition as well as the promoters of true Christianity among females in an elevated station. While some, like Jezebel, cut off the prophets of the Lord, others, like Esther, are found to plead the cause of his people. Such a character was Margaret, the duchess of Alençon, and queen of Navarre, the sister of Francis 1., king of France; she, as well as her friend and kinswoman, Philiberte of Savoy, was often known to intercede with earthly princes for the people of the King of kings, who, while rendering to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, forgot not that some things are due to God alone.

CHAPTER V.

ERA OF THE REFORMATION IN EUROPE.

Intercourse of the Vaudois with Luther and EcolampadiusPlaces of worship-Meetings in the open air-Mountain life -Hostile incursions-The Barricade-Intercession of the duchess of Savoy-Efforts of Romanists-Pramol.

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THE era of the Reformation was now arrived, at which time scarcely an individual isted in any of the courts of Europe before whom the great question of religion was not, in some way or other, presented. From this period, the Waldenses appear more in public view, connected with others who protested against popery, and their history can be traced with more distinctness. They derived advantage from intercourse with the reformers. Some of their barbs, or pastors, conferred with Martin Luther, in 1526; and though not at first prepossessed in their favour, he discovered, on examination, that their views agreed with his on all essential points. With Calvin and the other Swiss reformers, they were yet more closely connected. Indeed some of these had probably received their tenets, in part, at least, through the Vaudois' instrumentality. The inhabitants of the valleys also availed themselves of the introduction of printing, to obtain