PEYRANI'S LETTER.

There are few spots which present more attractions to the eye or to the imagination than these picturesque retreats of the Vaudois, which I was induced to visit by one of those accidental circumstances, to which we sometimes owe the most agreeable events of our life.

b

I happened to attend a meeting of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, on the day when a very affecting letter was read to the board by the Rev. Dr. Gaskin, the late Secretary, which was signed "Ferdinand Peyrani, Minister of Pramol," and requested that some aid might be sent in books or money to the ancient protestant congregation in the mountains of Piemont, who were struggling hard against poverty and oppression. Of these Vaudois at the time I had but an imperfect knowledge, but from

b A communication has likewise been received from M. Peyrani, one of the Pastors of the ancient Protestant Church of the Waldenses. He states that the numbers who now remain in the valleys of Piemont amount to 18,000; that they are divided into thirteen parishes, with an equal number of pastors, and are the subjects of their lawful sovereign the King of Sardinia. He enters at some length into a description of their past and present state, and represents the difficulties which they have now to encounter as very serious. The stipends of the Clergy are low; provisions are at a high price; and they have no private fortunes. Some of them are reduced to the greatest distress, and the expence of bringing up their children to succeed them in the ministry is greater than they are able to bear. Since peace has been restored on the Continent, they have also been exposed to fresh injuries from the Roman Catholics. The principal object, however, of M. Peyrani was to request the assistance of the Society in furnishing books for their churches.

"It was resolved, in consequence of this letter, that the sum of forty pounds should be granted to M. Peyrani; and be laid out partly in the French works on the Society's list, and partly in the purchase of copies of a book of Psalms and Hymns, which is in use among the Vaudois, and of which the Society's correspondent stated them to be particularly in want. The resolution was communicated to M. Peyrani; and in acknowledging the receipt of the Secretary's letter, and the kindness of the Society, he takes occasion to regret the misfortunes which have deprived the Waldensian Church of the benefit of an episcopal government." See Report of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, p. 115, for the year 1820:

The Society has since made the Vaudois a grant of several thousand Copies of Books and Tracts in the French Language.

DOVER-CALAIS.

the moment my attention was thus directed to the subject, it took complete possession of me; and the books, to which I now applied for farther information, confirmed me in my purpose of visiting this people in their native valleys.

Some of the narratives that I read seemed to give quite a romantic and even fabulous air, to the conflicts which this little community (never exceeding twenty thousand souls) had the courage to hold with their powerful neighbours; and my expectations were raised by several of the descriptions to see a region, which would appear more like fairy land, than the theatre of real achievements. Every vale and glen is represented in these relations as sacred ground, from having been ennobled by some exploit in defence of liberty or religion, or consecrated to the memory of a hero who had bled, or a martyr who had suffered there. One writer calls the valleys of these Vaudois," an holy asylum which God has wonderfully and even miraculously fortified;" and a popish author who wrote against the Vaudois, bears this remarkable testimony to their successful resistance of aggression. "Toutes sortes de gens en divers temps, par un très-grand effort, ont en vain essayé de les arracher, car contre l'opinion de tout le monde ils sont toûjours demeurez vanqueurs, et du tout invincibles "." But highly coloured as such accounts may be thought to be, an investigation into the history of these mountaineers, and a survey of their country, will clearly prove, that neither the extraordinary events in the one, nor the beauty or sublimity of the other have been exaggerated.

d

It was on the 11th of December, 1822, that I crossed the Channel from Dover to Calais, on my way to Piemont, in search of these secluded valleys and their patriarchal inhabitants. Three young friends, Mr. Colville Coverly Jackson, Mr. John Saville Hallifax, and Mr. Robert Dampier Hallifax, were the companions of my journey; and we flattered our

DOVER-CALAIS.

selves that the mildness with which the month had set in, promised a favourable season for the excursion. It was our intention to make the tour of Italy after our visit to the Vaudois, and that we might have the whole year before us, we improvidently made our arrangements so as to begin where, with better judgment, we should have ended; but there are so many things which occur to control the movements of the traveller, that it is in vain to argue upon regrets when the journey is concluded. Mountain scenery will no doubt be seen to most advantage in the summer; but if those, who have a few months only at their disposal, are resolved to make the most of that time, they must regulate their movements less by choice than necessity.

The deceitfulness of a winter's sun was never felt more truly than on the day we sailed for the coast of France. It was a clear, bright, and warm morning when we left Dover: the vessel made her way calmly, yet rapidly, through the waves, and in three hours we expected to land on the opposite shores; but in mid-channel the atmosphere began to thicken, and at half past one a dense fog came on. We knew that we were nearing Calais; but, instead of the cheerful salutations of the French boatmen, we had the melancholy notes of the leads-man, and the portentous warning of quarter-less-three proclaimed the necessity of keeping off the land, lest we should get a-ground upon the sand-banks. Not an object could be seen from the packet, but the faint sounds of a bell, which were borne on the air from one of the churches in the town, gave us notice to cast anchor, and to wait till it should clear up. It was evening before we landed. A cold frost commenced at night; and, in a thick mist, we started for Paris the next morning.

Our more experienced travellers, however, comforted us with the assurance that there was not much beauty of scenery between Calais and Paris, and that we had now proof positive that fogs and vapours were not confined to

6

FRENCH EQUESTRIANS AND SPORTSMEN.

England. The same weather continued nearly all the way to the capital; great part of the journey was performed at night, and we arrived at Meurice's hotel, having seen but little, and consequently much disposed to criticise. It is, besides, at all times difficult to divest ourselves of the prejudices arising from the habits of years; and, I must frankly confess, that in our first view of things, we were inclined to look at them only in comparison with the superiority we had left behind in England. Of course there was no lack of objects for spleen to feed upon; for where indeed would not spleen find something to gratify its appetite? It is, in one respect, like Shakspeare's jealousy, and may be said to make the meat it feeds on. The French equestrians and sportsmen were peculiarly ridiculous to untravelled Englishmen; the former on sorry beasts, in a stiff jog trot, with large ill-made saddles, and trappings of the last century; the latter, with curs for pointers, and old muskets for fowling-pieces, in pursuit of blackbirds and green-finches, objects worthy of such an equip

ment.

Then, too, the awkward and inconvenient vehicles, from the diligence to the travelling carriages, and the coarse harness and rope traces of the horses, contrasted with the gay attire of some of the postillions, were also subjects of derision; and not less so the imperfect condition of machinery in general. But, viewed in connexion with the advancement of the mind, there were other things which we noticed with feelings very different to those of merriment. For example, the hideous-looking crucifixes, erected at intervals on the road-side, which seem more like a mockery, than a record, of the most important event in Christian history. Can a clumsy representation of our Lord's sufferings on the cross, with an image, whose features are frightfully distorted, surrounded with all the implements that are supposed to have been used at the crucifixion, and the whole carved in petty detail, and presenting a combination

A SUNDAY IN PARIS.

of objects which is any thing but reverend ;-can such a sight raise the thoughts from earth to heaven?

A Sunday in Paris, (December 15) with the sight of open shops, and hundreds of busy tradesmen, did not help to satisfy my mind as to the efficacy of what the Romanists consider the external helps and adjuncts of religion. Processions of priests, and an ostentatious display of popish emblems, are again to be seen in the metropolis of France; but the spirit of devotion does not seem to be much moved by these outward signs of it. Considering, however, what this country was a few years back, we have cause to congratulate her even upon the slightest symptoms of religious observances. There is a tale in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, where it is told, that the holy word, Alla, God, accidentally pronounced, broke the enchantment over a whole city of idolaters, and restored its inhabitants, who had been changed into stone, to their human form. The transformation of hearts of stone to hearts of flesh, may not be far distant even in France.

It was delightful to turn out of streets, where the Sabbath presents no appearance of being a day of rest or holiness, into the court-yard of the British Ambassador, and to find our way into his chapel; for there, at least, there was some evidence that a reverential esteem of things sacred was not quite effaced from every heart in this gay and noisy capital. The congregation consisted of about six hundred and a devout air prevailed among all present. It is not easy to believe, that when persons are in a strange land, they can go into a place of worship, where the language of prayer and praise is heard in the well-known terms of our beautiful Liturgy, without being seriously affected. Many of those who were assembled upon this occasion were absentees from their native soil, whom illness, or afflicting events, had sent abroad in search of health, or composure of mind. Others had left behind them objects most dear to their affections, and had brought away re