CHAPTER II.

A DESCRIPTION OF THE WALDENSES AND

THEIR DISTRICT.

Valley scenery-Pra del Tor-Early teachers-Alpine pastures -Scriptural lessons-Means used for communicating instruction Peter Waldo of Lyons -French Waldenses-Statements of Romish authors-Present limits of the valleys.

THE reader will now return to the Vaudois or Waldenses, (we use the names indifferently,) the people immediately under notice in these pages. It is generally considered that the Vaudois, the Waldenses, orValdenses, derived their name from the valleys, or vallis dense, which they inhabited. Thus their appellation would answer to the English term, valesmen, or dalesmen. They always spoke of themselves as dwellers in the valley of tears, but they well knew what our own poet, Cowper, states

"That though life's valley be a vale of tears,
A brighter scene beyond that vale appears,
Whose glory with a light that never fades,
Shoots between scatter'd rocks and opening shades,
And while it shows the land the soul desires,
The language of that land she seeks, inspires."

They were also literally inhabitants of the valleys. The three vales which have always formed their chief settlements are named Lucerne, S. Martin, and La Perouse; they in

clude several districts known by other names, as La Torre, Rora, and others that will be mentioned. These are now their place of residence, although at some periods of their history the Waldenses have spread over a tract of ground considerably more extensive. They have also been driven by persecution to emigrate into the neighbouring country, according to the words of our Lord, "When they persecute you in one city, flee ye to another." Several of the most remarkable spots will be noticed as we proceed, but a few words of description may here be added. These are from modern writers, but the general features have probably for ages remained the same.

Angrogna," says Gilly, "is by far the richest spot now in the possession of the Protestants. Gardens and vineyards, orchards and groves, corn lands and pastures, mulberry trees and the stateliest chesnuts, are here intermingled in the most picturesque confusion; and the variety of hill and dale, before the acclivities swell into mountains, complete one of the loveliest landscapes in Piedmont." "San Giovanni (St. John) would be a little earthly paradise, if it were not besieged by Roman Catholics on the east and south. It is a beautiful vale, embroidered on the south by verdant meadows, watered by the river Pelice; the rest of the vale does not merely consist of cornfields, but of fields, vineyards, and orchards, intermixed. All the roads, the walks, and the hedges, which separate different farms,

are agreeably bordered with fruit trees, particularly mulberries, which the inhabitants cultivate for their silk worms. When we arrived at the torrent of Angrogna, the smiling features of San Giovanni were immediately succeeded by the more grand and imposing scenery of La Torre." This last-named is the chief of the Waldensian villages.

Pra del Tor, in the same valley of Lucerne, is a truly interesting spot. Here the barbs, or ancient pastors, had their school of divinity, where the youth were instructed, and sent forth to preach the gospel in other places. This ancient sanctuary is now destroyed, not one stone has been left upon another; and some Catholic priests have erected and consecrated a chapel of their own near the site. The only relic of the original building, an ancient table of black stone, is still preserved, and shown in a neighbouring cottage. It was in a striking situation, a deep secluded hollow in the mountains, encircled by lofty rocks, that appear to shut out the world. A synod of pastors once assembled here, to the number of one hundred and forty. Like the prophets' sons, in times of old, they were honoured and blessed, though, to appearance, poor and obscure. Such were the two humble travellers, clothed in gray, who, in the fifteenth century, after supping at the cottage of Pieronette of Beauregard, in Valentinois, are stated to have asked her whether she had heard of a handful of people that are in the world, without whom the world

must perish; and added, that they were the men that had learned, by the commandments of God, how to serve him; and that they travelled about the world to instruct men how they ought to adore and honour him, and to renounce the abuses of the church of Rome.

"The scenery of the Val St. Martin changes frequently and rapidly," says Beattie, "from the most harsh and rugged aspect, to that of the most attractive beauty. Stupendous cliffs and terrific precipices give place to verdant and flowery spots, and a turn of the mountain path by the torrent side would bring us out of a deep cleft of rock, where our feet were bruised by the stones, to a bank of lavender, or a green plateau of herby grass, soft as a carpet, or to a sunny nook, where the little property of corn land is cultivated, like the patriarchal inheritances of the ancient tribes of Israel, by father to son, from generation to generation. The Germanasca, whose waters we followed, was of the same character. The deafening roar of its flood almost stunned us in some places, and soon afterward we came to a deep still pool, of azure blue, where it seemed to rest for a while before it resumed its impetuous course, and where we felt as if we could be tempted to sit for hours. Here, as in Switzerland, the mountain districts, which are exclusively used for pasture, are termed alps; and the breeding of cattle, and the produce of the dairy, are the principal sources of rural wealth. The alp of Guignevert, which immediately borders the gorges of the Balsille, is of this description."

The annual migration of the cattle, instinctively impatient as the season advances to reach their mountain pastures, which in winter have been covered with snow, is described in a hymn written by the late moderator, M. Bert, who is honourably mentioned by Dr. Gilly and others. The following is an attempt to translate an extract from it: "Why do our flocks appear thus uneasy? they are restless in their attitude, impatient in their gestures, and eager, without delay, to seek the benefit of a change of pasture. We will comply with their instinctive desires. It is not our interest to resist or oppose them. We will leave our lowly dwellings, and conduct them to the hills, that we may escape the sultry heat, and taste the cool fresh air. Our flocks will soon adorn those distant alps, and joyfully feed on the wholesome mountain herbs. Let this change of abode remind us that we are all strangers and pilgrims on earth, having here no continuing city;' let us constantly look forward to the everlasting habitation, which God has prepared for every believer." Perhaps this lesson has been as instructive to the mountaineers as the lines well known in our own land have proved to many around us:

We've no abiding city here,

This may distress the worldling's mind;
But should not cost the saint a tear,

Who hopes a better rest to find.

The date of the twelfth century brings forward the Waldenses still more prominently than the earlier records. At this period, many sup