obliged to pause in the middle of the services, in consequence of interruption by popish ceremonies, which seem to be carefully contrived on such principles as may most conduce to the annoyance of the neighbouring worshippers. And strange ebullitions of piety, certainly, they are! a burlesque on the very name of devotion! Not to refer to sundry other of their accompaniments, it may be mentioned, that a most sacred part consists in the discharge, at stated intervals, of some pieces of cannon, which are inserted in the ground with their muzzles pointing to heaven. And this within a few yards of the Protestant church!

Amid great outward oppression, however, and many heavy disabilities, there is much that is cheering in the present condition of the Waldensian valleys. Within these few years, the blessings of education have been widely extended. This is to be attributed not a little to the munificence of Colonel B, an Englishman, resident on the spot, who, in addition to the interest he has exhibited in many other schemes of local benevolence, has provided more particularly for the wants of the rising generation,-there being scarcely a commune but contains, in its village school, a monument of his Christian philanthropy.

It was formerly necessary for the young men who were preparing for the ministry, to receive

their education at the colleges of Geneva or Lausanne. Besides the other untoward influences to which the removal from their native valleys subjected these youthful mountaineers, it was scarcely to be expected that they could escape altogether uncontaminated by the rationalism and Socinianism, which are so fearfully withering the Christianity of Switzerland. The establishment of a native college, however, where they receive their elementary education, has added another to the many noble exertions of Dr Gilly in behalf of the Vaudois; and they may consider themselves fortunate in having such an individual as M. Revel, the professor, to superintend the training of their future pastors.

It may be mentioned, as a proof that the martyr's spirit still slumbers in the bosoms of the Waldenses, that, when an attempt was made, some years ago, by one of their pastors, to amalgamate the corrupted doctrines of the Geneva church with the "purity of the faith delivered to the saints," the attempt produced an instant recoil on the part of the humble peasantry, who refused to "touch the unclean thing," and many of whom, amid cruel mockings and domestic persecution, held meetings for religious worship, like their forefathers, among their dens and caverns. But now

that passing cloud has vanished, and has been succeeded by a cheering sunshine. In the parish of St Giovanni, where the differences originated,— since a memorable Sabbath when its pulpit was filled by Felix Neff, "the Apostle of the Alps,"a revival has been steadily progressing, not unworthy of being numbered among those, with which the Great Husbandman has of late been refreshing desolate spots in his vineyard throughout Christendom. M. Meille, the former pastor, who, sinking under a load of years, has been obliged to resign his more active duties to a younger disciple of the cross, is watching with paternal interest these cheering symptoms of spiritual life; and to the heavenly mind of this devoted saint, there seems to be " no greater joy than to see his children walking in the truth." No spectacle can be more delightful than to witness the aged patriarch seated on Sabbath morning among those to whom for long he dealt out the bread of life, and in whom he now beholds all his fondest hopes and ardent prayers fulfilled.

This very awakening, however, has been the signal for heaping fresh disabilities on the pious mountaineers. Since the day to which we have referred, an edict has been issued, prohibiting any stranger from preaching within the limits of the valleys; and expatriation hangs suspended over

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the head of the pastor, who would dare thus to throw open his pulpit!

On the whole, the Waldenses possess claims on the sympathies and interest of the Christian world, not less on account of their past than of their present condition; and their little fairy land still nurses within its bosom those, who have not forgotten the cost at which their Protestantism was secured to them, and who are as ready as ever, if need be, to assert their spiritual liberties. We are not prepared, indeed, to subscribe to the glowing panegyrics of some enthusiastic travellers, who have attributed to them a perfection which never can belong to humanity, as if theirs were some isolated spot to which fabled virtue, when she left mankind, bequeathed her mantle. They are the mistaken, not the real friends of that primitive people, who would arrogate for them a purity which is not mortal, exciting expectations which, when they come to be tested by actual observation, will be sure to disappoint. That there are blemishes in their character, lights and shadows in the picture, no one who has had an opportunity of mingling in their society will be disposed to deny. But when we take into consideration the disadvantages under which they labour, the privileges of which they are deprived, the contagious influences to which they are exposed, we

cannot fail to regard this simple-minded race as still continuing, what for ages they have been, -one of the living wonders of the world; and their valleys a little oasis, which appears all the brighter and lovelier from its contrast with the dreary wilderness around it.

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THE END.

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