The journey of the adventurers on the fourth day lay over another difficult pass, which has received the name of the Col du Bon Homme, or Pass of the Good Man, from a benevolent person who built a refuge there for belated travellers. This pass is well known to tourists of the present day. As it has always been somewhat conspicuous as one of the secondary passages through the Alps, the Waldenses expected to be attacked before they left it. In fact, they saw a line of rude mountainforts, which had been built for the very purpose of opposing their return; but the government, ceasing to expect such an attempt, had some time previously withdrawn the troops. The Waldenses, however, trusting to their destiny, advanced to storm them; and they seem, indeed, to have been rather disappointed at finding only empty walls. As they descended towards the valleys, lying between two severed chains of the Alps, they saw a band of armed peasants prepared to resist them. The place had several small villages; and as their approach was rumored, every steeple sent forth an alarm-peal. They found a bridge over the Isere barricaded with trees and beams, and preparations made for resistance. The resolute aspect of the little army, however, intimidated the people, and they removed the obstruction with all haste. Here the expedition made an addition to their stock of hostages, in the persons of two priests. The seignior of the Valley of Isere, knowing Even at that time, however, being a frontheir desire to get possession of people of his tier pass between Savoy on the one hand, and class, put spurs to his horse, and narrowly France and Switzerland on the other, there escaped. This practice of seizing hostages was a post or guard-house at Mont Cenis; had indeed become a subject of jocularity with and the expedition, therefore, might expect to those who suffered from it. The hostages be attacked, or, at all events, to have news used to say to Arnaud, when they saw a of their march sent onward through the counperson of apparent consequence: There, try. To prevent the latter misfortune, they now, is a fine bird for your cage." On their sent forward a detachment, who seized all the fifth day, the army performed a feat in the horses at the post. Returning, they met a kidnapping departinent which looks somewhat train of mules carrying baggage, of which harsh. In the little town of St. Foy they re- the party took possession. This was found ceived a warm and hospitable reception, the to be the baggage of Cardinal Angelo Ra people expressing admiration of their courage nuzzi, papal legate to France, who was on his and perseverance. Some of the neighboring return to Rome. Arnaud boasted that he gentry asked the wanderers to sojourn for compelled the party to restore the seizure awhile among them, to recruit their strength. all but a watch, of curious construction, which Many of the soldiers were desirous of yielding was somehow lost sight of But they reto this tempting offer; but Arnaud, so far tained something else of a far more valuable from permitting a halt, seized the hospitable character - the cardinal's private papers, individuals as hostages, saying, he had no which one is not able to believe were kept doubt their proffered kindness covered some through mere inadvertence. These opened wicked plot. Arriving on the sixth day at up many state secrets, which no doubt could the little town of Tignes, they remembered be turned to account by Arnaud or his patthat here their spies had suffered the deten- ron, William III. The loss to the cardinal tion and annoyance already mentioned. They was very serious; it is said that the publicanamed a certain sum of money, which they tion of some matters found in these papers

proved with the general civilization of Europe; said had been taken from the spies, demandthose of the upper giens or alps are probably, ing repayment; and it was not for the inunless where the district is much frequented habitants to deny the accuracy of the charge. by tourists, little different from what they On receiving the sum, the invaders made a were in the days of Arnaud. selection from the principal citizens, and conferred on two priests and an advocate the distinction of being transferred to their cage. They next proceeded to Bessans, where they described the conduct of the inhabitants as so insulting, that they were absolutely forced, for the vindication of their honor, to carry off some mules, the curé, the chamberlain, and six other persons. On the seventh day, they ascended the well-known pass of Mont Cenis, now traversed by one of Napoleon's magnificent roads, but then only boasting a muletrack, if it could be said to have a path at all. Before ascending the mountain, the Waldenses took much credit for dismissing one of their clerical hostages, who was so old and fat that it would have been extremely difficult to drag him up the ascent. The traveller of the present day associates Mont Cenis with some great fortifications, an easy ascent, grand' views, and a capital inn. "The lake," says Mr. Brockedon, in his Passes of the Alps, "is celebrated for the delicious trout which it yields; and not only with these are the travellers on the Cenis abundantly provided, but with excellent wines, bread, and meat; and the intercourse with the plains of Piedmont is so constant, that fruits, fresh and delicious, are found at the inn. Game, too, in season is rarely wanting to the traveller's repast on the Cenis, particularly in August, when great quantities of grouse are taken on the surrounding mountains."

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prevented him from being raised to the pope- then They observed, however, on adopting dom; and he soon afterwards died, lamenting this arrangement, that the troops crept after with his latest breath the loss of his papers. It was at this part of their journey, when they were in a manner in sight of home, that the wanderers were subject to the greatest dangers and hardships. In these high regions, snow-storms often occur, even in the month of August. These are an object of the deepest solicitude to the traveller, for they not only overwhelm him in the fearful whirl of icy particles driven before the wind, but immediately obliterate his path, covering everything-rocks, glaciers, and morasses- with one uniform deep veil of white. The expedition does not appear to have actually encountered one of these hurricanes or tourmentes, as they are termed, but they found the ground covered with the fresh snow which had been left by a storm just over; and, either from design or inability to find the path so obscured, their guide led them astray. A portion of the band, overcome with fatigue, fell back, and spent a fearful night among the woods which border the ascent. The rest arrived in the valley, and were able to recruit themselves by the side of some camp-fires.

They had now travelled for eight days, and, without firing a shot, or meeting with serious resistance, almost reached their destination. Their hardships from the ruggedness and difficulty of the country might be said to be over, while those from the enemy had yet to begin. They took the direction of Chaumont, above Jura, and learning that the peasants, aided by a French force, were trying to make the narrow Valley of the Jaillon impassable, by rolling stones down the bank, the van-guard was ordered to advance. They sent forward one of their captains, accompanied by two of their priest-hostages, to negotiate. Here they were paid somewhat in their own coin, for the priests made their escape, and the captain was seized and bound. It was impossible to storm this pass, and the only method of gaining their end, was to climb the rugged side of the hill, and outflank the enemy. They accomplished this difficult operation under the cover of their marksmen; but the fatigue was so dreadful to the hostages, who were compelled to scramble on, that some of them prayed to be put to death. When the main band halted, after this affair, and made a muster, they found their number greatly weakened, from losses by death and capture.

As they approached the Touliers, an offshoot where they had an ascent to make, they found 200 men drawn up, as if to dispute the passage. Their commandant, however, said, that if the Waldenses would take a route higher up the hill, and would not insist on forcing a passage through his post, he would not go out of his way to molest

them, and from various hints which they received, suspected that they were to be attacked in front and rear. The place chosen for an attempt effectually and conclusively to defeat their enterprise, was the bridge over the Dora, in the Valley of Salabertrand. When they had come within a mile and a half of this point, they counted thirty-six camp-fires, and saw that they must prepare to meet a formidable force. In fact, if we may believe the Waldensian statement, there were placed to defend the bridge 2500 picked French troops, well entrenched; while they themselves, reduced to some 600 or 700 men, were exhausted with fatigue and privation. They were received by a general fusilade, which passed almost harmless, from Arnaud ordering his men to fall on their faces. It is impossible to obtain a more distinct impression of what followed, than that the Waldenses, rushing on, gained an immediate advantage over the enemy, and, after two hours of hard fighting, obtained a complete victory, with the loss of only thirteen men. There was a fearful slaughter, not only during the contest, but afterwards. When they were tired with killing, and it appeared that the enemy were either slain or fled, a discovery was made that some of them had mixed themselves up with the victors. Those who did so must have been peasants, not French soldiers, otherwise their uniform would have betrayed them. It was determined to give these refugees no quarter. The password of the day was " Angrogna," but the strangers had not picked it up correctly, and generally to the qui vive they answered something like "Grogne." The effect of any imperfection in the pronunciation was always fatal, and in this manner 200 were killed. One would have thought that the policy of this small body, surrounded by a host of enemies, who must, in the end, be able to overwhelm them, would have been one of mercy and generosity to the vanquished, as founding a claim of reasonable treatment for themselves. But their victory at Salabertrand was but the commencement of a career of remorseless cruelty. They saw in it the direct interposition of Providence, and believed themselves, like the Jews of old, in the special hands of the Almighty, who was sending them with the sword to lay on and spare not

to smite the Amalekites hip and thigh. It is a sad thing to remark, how often this ferocious spirit appears to have overtaken men who professed to be struggling for Christian liberty. The apologists of the Waldenses have said that they had no means of keeping prisoners, and that it was necessary to put every enemy they met to death, to prevent the news of their approach from being carried forward. But if such a necessity were any

justification of these savage slaughters, it had no foundation in fact. Though they slew all who fell into their power, they could not kill all who saw them, and the news of their march must have spread all the more rapidly and alarmingly from the cruelties with which it was accompanied.

They allowed some to escape, whose faith was dubious, to avoid this risk; but they seem always to have put Roman Catholics to death, having a special enmity against those of them who had renounced their own faith. They did not admit the claims of sex to mercy, and near the convent of Angrogna, shot two peasant women. On Wednesday, the 28th of August, the twelfth day of their strange march, they entered one of their own valleys at Pralis. Here they found a Catholic church, which had been built since their expulsion, and burned it; but they had the satisfaction of finding their old parish church still standing. They removed the altar and other furniture of the Roman Catholic service, and sung the seventy-fourth Psalm. Arnaud raised for himself at the door a pulpit, from which he could be heard both from within and from without, and preached to his enthusiastic army from the 129th Psalm : " Many a time have they fought against me from my youth up."

This battle produced to the victors an immense booty, the most valuable part of which was a supply of arms and ammunition far beyond their requirements. Thirteen chests were broken up; and the hardy mountaineers, whose wardrobes were, it may well be believed, attenuated enough, now paraded in French military finery. But they were not to be tempted, according to the general practice of peasant victors, to submit themselves to easy luxury, and enjoy their spoil. Their commander appears to have allowed them no rest. That night they left the battle-field, and climbed the hill of Sci, which hangs over it, by moonlight. Many of them dropped down in the way from fatigue; but when the sun rose next morning, which was Sunday, the Thus, by a succession of events, which apmain body from the top of the hill looked peared in their own eyes miraculous, the little almost down into the valleys which they had band had fought their way to what they been so ardently struggling to regain. The counted their own possessions in the very time and place well suiting, a great thanks- heart of a hostile country. The whole contigiving was held, and the little army performed nent of Europe, indeed, with the exception its religious services, as it fought and marched, of the Swiss cantons and distant Holland, under the leadership of the warlike pastor. might be counted their enemies. Seeming to When they descended into the valleys beyond, deem themselves totally irresponsible to man, they found themselves in a mixed population, they had shown no compunction or conciliapartly Roman Catholic, and partly their own tion, but had acted like a force of overwhelmProtestant brethren. The priests of the ing strength when its passions are let loose former fled, and hid themselves -a prudent on a powerless enemy. With such a hoard resolution; for the Waldenses, flushed with victory, were not to be safely encountered. They complained that their brethren received them with much more caution and less cordial hospitality than they had expected; but they were only in what had been originally a thin outskirt of the Protestant population, which had, owing to late events, relapsed in a great measure into Catholicism. Next day, they had but a short evening-journey, having rested during the greater part of the forenoon. When they reached the foot of the Col du Pis, they found it occupied by a body of Savoyard troops, who, on their approach, took to flight, for they had now established for themselves a reputation of terror. Eight of the Savoyard guard afterwards approached too close to the adventurers, and were seized. They were told to pray before being shot; and the historian of the enterprise remarks that they did not seem to know how to do so probably they were overcome with confusion at their stern and sudden doom. Next day, forty-six soldiers were seized, and shot on the bridge of the Balsille. The adventurers now found it necessary, however, to be cautious and discriminating in their executions, lest they should kill any of their own people.

of vengeance laid up in store against them, it was hopeless to attempt to escape. In no history have we any account of men who seem in the position of being more certainly doomed to destruction, than the handful who had thus forced themselves into the midst of their enemies. Nor, even if they should succeed for awhile in defending themselves in rugged, inaccessible places from the vast forces which France and Savoy would pour upon them, could they be the nearer a solution of their difficulty. Their project was, to live in peace again in their valleys with their wives and children, enjoying their own religion. Nothing could seem more hopeless than the accomplishment of this end through the methods adopted by them. We hear nothing of the existing position of the widows and children

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they must have been left behind, living on the bounty of those Swiss who had so hospitably entertained their husbands and fathers. Men, and these of the hardiest and most fearless nature, could alone march in the expedition. But if they had expected any better fate than that of leaving their blood in their beloved valleys, they must have looked forward to the necessity of bringing their families after them; and to accomplish this,

ses:

heavy penalties, to abstain from rifling or searching the dead, wounded, or prisoners, whether during battle or afterwards, leaving the task to selected and accountable officers. The officers had two different duties characteristically imposed on them: the one to see that all the men under them were well appointed in arms and ammunition; the other, to suppress every symptom of blasphemy or profanity. One is reminded in this of Oliver Cromwell's Ironsides, with their correct discipline and equally systematic devotion; and it is worth remembering, that it was through the vigorous and commanding councils of Cromwell that this little body of Waldenses was allowed to retain its existence. They seem to have adhered to the traditions of their mighty friend. The oath concluded with a solemn engagement to rescue the brethren from the cruel Babylon, and reestablish the Saviour's kingdom - striving for that end unto death.

they must have fought so successfully as to be | prisoners and plunder. They agreed, under in the condition of demanding an honorable peace. What was the actual event, we shall presently see; but on their coming to the successful termination of their frightful march, nothing could seem more hopeless than their position. They seemed, however, never to view it in this common-sense light. They had a predestinarian light of their own, through which they saw their fate, and they fought on like men actually expecting to conquer with the edge of the sword a quiet settlement in the heart of their enemies. On the thirteenth day of their campaign, they saw a body of Savoyard soldiers posted advantageously on the Col du Julier. The advanced posts called out to the Walden"Come on, limbs of the devil! We are three thousand strong!" This was probably a great exaggeration; but it was all one to these children of destiny how many the enemy were. On they rushed the soldiers abandoned their posts, and retreated. There was the usual slaughter of prisoners, and again a rich booty fell into the hands of the victors. They lost in this affair just one man, commemorated by name as Joshua Mundon of Luzern. The retreating enemy took refuge partly in the convent of Villar, partly in the town of Bobi. The latter post was seized by assault; the soldiers who did not escape were put to death; and the inhabitants, wisely dreading such masters, left their property behind them, and fled. At the commencement of their career the Waldenses had been very moderate and just in their treatment of property; but now a total change had come over them, and they pillaged the town with the expertness and avidity of practised soldiers. Though the shooting of the prisoners was always deemed a good act, and was done by regulation, the pillage was not thus sanctioned. Arnaud and his immediate staff, however devoted they may have been to the religious opinions of their brethren, knew that correct discipline was a paramount necessity in such a force. Like all remarkable commanders, he showed his capacity for meeting the enemy by his ability to overcome the lawless propensities of his own followers. He saw in the sack of Bobi that they were becoming licentious from success and abundance of booty, and he appointed a new rule of discipline, which was sanctioned by an oath. The Waldenses took this oath with all the stern enthusiasm of their character. It required that none of them, who might be worsted in straggling parties, should treat with their enemies of the French or Piedmontese government without the concurrence of the rest; all should act together, and none were to buy safety, or any other advantage, at the cost or risk of their brethren. In this oath, they swore to be entirely obedient to their officers, putting at their disposal all

The journal of their proceedings still goes on with the same regularity, but it does not possess the same interest as when they advanced day by day nearer to their destination. It is for some time a chronicle of skirmishes and common-place military incidents, with little variety. The very success of the Waldensian band becomes irksome. They never meet an enemy, but to be victorious; and yet, until the singular climax of their history arrives, they never seem nearer to the secure rest they are in search of. In this somewhat monotonous routine, however, some incidents are characteristic and amusing. The propensity for taking hostages still remained. On one occasion, however, it was adapted to a very serviceable purpose. Two of their number, who had some medical skill, having been lost at an early period of the expedition, they felt extremely the want of medical assistance for their sick and wounded, and set about remedying the deficiency in their usual abrupt and practical manner. In fact, they stole a surgeon from the enemy! The poor man, knowing well the fate of so many who had fallen into the hands of these fighting zealots, was naturally in great alarm; but they soon put him at his case, and made him feel that he was far too valuable a person to be hastily destroyed.

Another incident in their desultory operations at this period is curious. In a slight skirmish, where a detachment had to meet on a road a superior number of the enemy, they kept themselves under cover by rolling casks before them. In a wine-country, these of course were abundant; and it is not difficult to suppose that, in a petty skirmish, where there was no cannon, they might form a sort of movable fortification.

A kind of exceptional incident in this war

the fortress of the Balsille-of the siege of which we shall presently have to give an account-the little scattered force seemed each day and hour on the verge of annihilation, yet alternating this state with extraordinary victories and successes of all kinds. On the day when a fair was held in the town of Perouse, the assembled peasants were startled by a party of the Waldenses rushing into the midst of them, with a group of prisoners whom they had just captured in one of their skirmishes. Finding that two of these were renegades of the deepest dye-having, indeed, served as guides to their enemy, the Marquis de Parelle-they resolved to make them the victims of a remarkable tragedy for the benefit of the surrounding rustics. A gibbet being erected, one of these prisoners was compelled to hang the other, and was then himself shot. It is not surprising that, as the narrative states, the market-people got alarmed, and scampered home to their cottages.

was the siege of Villar, the convent to which a portion of the Savoyard troops had retreated. It was strong, and not to be easily stormed. The garrison, however, was known to be short of provisions; and the Waldenses, whose feats in general were accomplished by headlong valor, varied their system by trying a blockade. And thus, in the midst of an enemy's country, and with the finest troops in the world at no great distance, and likely every moment to sweep them away as with a whirlwind, they set deliberately about that operation which is only conducted by great armies, conscious of security in their own overwhelming strength, and patient accordingly. Two or three efforts were made to raise the siege always baffled by the vigilant and fortunate Waldenses. When attempts were made to throw provisions into the monastery, they were of course seized; and very welcome they were, for the besiegers were subject to privations worse even than those of the besieged; we hear of their feed- It has been mentioned that the three prining on bruised chestnuts and on apples, in cipal valleys or straths of the Waldenses were extremely small quantities. Yet they seem St. Martin, Luzern, and La Perouse, terrinever to have lost heart or confidence; and tories extremely fertile and valuable. Until the escape of the garrison of the monastery, repossessed of them the exiles had not acwho had seemed to be delivered into their complished the object of their campaign; but hands, was a worse mortification to them than how was it possible that this could be accomtheir privations. In their extremities of need, plished? Although it might be possible to however, the most unaccountable accidents hold the fastnesses of the mountains against supplied their wants. At one time they the French and Savoyard armies- which stumble on a mule laden with provisions; now, according to the Waldensian accounts, at another, a cask of wine is found on the amounted to 22,000 men was it to be road, abandoned by its guardians, terrified dreamed of that they could occupy an inby their approach. Such were their capri- defensible and fruitful country in the face of cious supplies, appearing to their eyes as if such a force? Events, however, tended again, laid down for their use, like manna, by the in the midst of their dangers and calamities, direct interposition of Providence. They still, to make them believe themselves a chosen however, were sadly attenuated, from the people destinied for success. The Marquis de want of regular provisions; and if they had Parelle having, towards the end of autumn, had the slightest fear that the arm of flesh thought fit to concentrate his forces in the could injure them, they must have been Valley of Perouse, left that of St. Martin so startled by the fact that there they were, open, that the Waldenses, scanty as were about 600 men, with the armies of France their numbers, took possession of it. They and Savoy closing round them. They recon- now drafted off a portion of their force to act noitred a strong fort at Perrier, with a gar- as flying detachments among the surrounding rison of 150 men, and took credit for their rocks; and these hardy marksmen had beabstinent prudence in not attempting to storm come so expert in guerilla warfare, that they it. It was on the 7th of September, or the rendered the valley for weeks inaccessible to twenty-second day of their campaign, that they abandoned this enterprise; two days later, they achieved a most gratifying and profitable capture it consisted of 180 sheep; and they ate their mutton with the greater relish, that it belonged to two rich inhabitants of their valleys, who had deserted their faith. The sheep were obtained by special marauding expeditions, which seem to have really had at heart the punishment of the apostates, as much as the supply of food for the famishing troops.

From this time until the latter end of October, when the few who survived occupied

the occasional bodies of the enemy's troops sent against them, and gained many signal victories. Thus a portion of them were kept in literally peaceful possession of this fruitful valley for a whole month. Of course, the value of such a brief possession depended very much on the particular month to which it extended. In winter, or in seed-time, it would have been of small advantage; but it was the choice month of the year- the harvest month. The peaceful detachment occupied themselves with untiring energy in reaping the harvest of corn, grapes, apples, and nuts, with which the valley was rich, and