narrow strip of land by which the Rock of Gibraltar is connected with the mainland. The day after the bombardment commenced was a Saint's Day, and the sentinels went to hear mass in a neighbouring chapel. Whilst they were thus employed, some English sailors clambered by a path, which was almost inaccessible, on to the top of the rock, and there hoisted the British flag. In spite of vigorous efforts on the part of enemies to haul it down, that flag has waved over the Rock of Gibraltar from that day (3rd August, 1704) to this.

Geography of the Huguenots.

CHAPTER VI.

RISING IN THE CEVENNES.

Two regions of France seem to have been especially open to the influence of Protestant or Huguenot opinions. One is the lower valley of the Loire, where the doctrines of the Huguenots were accepted by the artisans of the great industrial towns, of which Nantes may be taken as representative. This town, as is well known, gave its name to the Edict of Toleration, by which under certain conditions freedom of

worship had been permitted to the HugueLoire valley. nots. The district must also be made to include the country to the south of the Loire, as far as La Rochelle, the favourite stronghold of the Huguenots. The other part of France is the lower valley of the Rhone, beginning with Lyons (which in the persecution lost 9,000 of its silk weavers), and the hills which close that valley in. Upon the east side is Dauphiny, the home of the Vaudois; on the western is the province of Languedoc, in which during the twelfth

Rhone valley.

and earlier part of the thirteenth century the sect of the Albigenses was strong. In several points the Albigenses resemble the later Protestants-in their opposition to the Pope, in their indignation against the corruptions of the Church, and in their vehement zeal for a purer form of faith based upon the Scriptures. The Albigenses were put down after a cruel persecution, which is sometimes dignified with the title of the Albigensian Crusade. But it would seem as if memories of this earlier struggle, the seed of religion, which is found in the blood of martyrs, remained in the country where they had laid down their lives. When persecution broke out in the middle of the reign of Lewis XIV., the Huguenots of Northern and Middle France saved themselves by flight to happier countries, or by an acceptance of the dominant faith. The regions where resistance was found were the natural homes of liberty, the mountains of the south, first, among the Vaudois, and, secondly, in the Cevennes.

Cevennes.

Cevennes is the name of the range of mountains that runs nearly parallel to the Rhone, at some little distance from its right bank. At the southern end the range separates from the direction of the river, trending towards the Pyrenees, leaving a marshy plain between the mountains and the Mediterranean, in the midst of which is situated the town of Nisme. The hills are of volcanic origin, though the volcanoes are extinct. They are rough and precipitous, with many caves and fissures, yet in many places thickly covered with forest trees. It is just the country in which a few peasants, well acquainted with footpaths and by-ways, might keep at bay a regular army, even though its soldiers were many times more numerous than they.

Mixed with the pure religion of this simple mountain folk there was certainly much fanaticism. As the persecution increased in intensity, many amongst them professed

to be inspired; and shortly after the opening of the new century the inspirations took the form of exhortations to resist. It was remarked that the spirit of prophecy fell chiefly upon the young, and that in the insurrection which followed the leaders were young. In July, 1702, the very year in which the War of the Succession commenced, and shortly after that war had been proclaimed, fifty of the persecuted, excited to resistance by the prophets, met in a forest, under three tall beech trees. There they determined to attack their persecutors. The insurgents became known as the Camisards,

The Camisards.

6

or wearers of the white frock:' but it is not certain whether this was the ordinary smock-frock of the country peasants, or a special dress, chosen that the wearers might be visible to each other on a dark night. The fighting that arose out of this insurrection, to which the name War of the Blouses' has been given, cannot properly be called a war: it was rather a series of raids. The Camisards would issue forth from their mountain fastnesses, and make an attack upon a priest who had persecuted them, upon a monastery, or upon a troop of Royalist soldiers. The attack over, or the enemy proving too strong, they would retreat at once to the hill-tops again. They knew all the paths, and they could climb like their own sheep or goats. All the peasants sympathised with them, and would help them to hide from the royalists. Their troops remind one of the regiments of the English Puritans. Before a battle there would be a meeting for prayer, and preaching, and praise, at which men would exhort officers. The Camisards marched to battle, lustily singing a hymn to the God of battles, and when the fighting was over, however great the carnage, on the very field uprose the song of praise and thanksgiving to Him who had given them the victory.

Of all their leaders, the most remarkable was Jean Cavalier. In the very year in which the Edict of Nantes was revoked was born this leader of the Jean

rebellion which that revocation caused. He Cavalier. was of humble parentage, his father being a shepherd; and his mother had trained him in the Protestant doctrines. At the age of fifteen he had to fly from the country, and took service with a baker at Geneva, then, as always, a hospitable place of refuge for the exile. Whilst in safety, however, he felt for his kinsfolk and neighbours who were suffering, and at length the 'baker's boy' determined to return and to rouse resistance. He was only seventeen, when, on account of his manifest fitness for the post, he was recognised as the General of the Camisards. Bravery was a virtue that he shared with all his men he had other qualities of his own. The education which he had received could have been but little, and not calculated to fit him for his work. Yet he was a born general, and his manœuvring on one occasion extorted from the ablest living marshal of France the praise that it was worthy of Cæsar.'

Three stories from his life in these two years will serve to illustrate his daring, his chivalry, and his uprightness :

His char

acter.

1. On one occasion, as his men wanted powder, he rode, disguised as a merchant, into the town of Nismes to buy some. On entering he found all in confusion, for a rumour had just reached the town that the Camisards were preparing to 1. Daring. attack it. The gates were immediately shut. But Cavalier, having procured the powder that he wanted, and carrying it about his own person, went to the officer commanding a troop of cavalry that was going forth against the rebels, and asked permission to ride with it, The officer complimented the supposed merchant on his

courage, but warned him at parting, lest he should meet with the dangerous Cavalier.

2. Riding in disguise, as was his wont, he once acted as guide to a young royalist officer, conducting him to a place of safety and then revealing himself

2. Chivalry.

to him as they parted.

3. Some banditti took advantage of the disturbed state of the country, and, pretending to be Camisards, plundered and murdered a lady. Immediately 3. Upright

ness.

on hearing of it Cavalier set to work to find the men, and, having found them, hanged them without ceremony.

Not hastily, nor without provocation, had the Camisards taken up arms. During all the seventeen years of Cavalier's life the persecution had been Dragonades. terrible. Nor had it been limited to these years. The revocation of the Edict was not a sudden reversal of policy, but rather with its results the culmination of one long-continued. It was known that cruelty and severity towards Protestants were a passport to the favour of the French king; but a legal sanction was given by the formal revocation, made within a few days of the king's secret marriage with Madame de Maintenon, who, instigated by the Jesuits, urged him on to it. What the king had allowed before he ordered now; all bands of humanity were withdrawn. A regiment of dragoons was considered the best body of missionaries. If they could not convert, they could at least kill, and attention was paid to no complaint against these instruments of Holy Church. It was in the province of Languedoc, in the earlier wars against the Albigenses, that when one asked how to distinguish the heretics from the true believers, the savage answer was made-Kill all! God will know His own.' Peaceful valleys were turned into scenes of slaughter; and the most cruel tortures, the