nger to that sky whither the spirits of
the martyred Vaudois have now ascended. It seemed to say, "Come and
see."

CHAPTER IV.

STRUCTURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS.

Journey to "Valleys"--Dinner at Pignerolo--Grandeur of
Scenery--Associations--Bicherasio--Procession of
_Santissimo_--Connection betwixt the History and the Country of the
Vaudois--The Three Valleys of Martino, Angrona, and Lucerna--Their
Arrangement--Strength--Fertility--La Tour--The Castelluzzo--Scenery
of the Val Lucerna--The Manna of the Waldenses--Populousness of the
Valleys--Variety of Productions--The Roman Flood and the Vaudois
Ark.

The Valleys of the Vaudois lie about thirty miles to the south-west of
Turin. The road thither it is scarce possible to miss. Keeping the lofty
and pyramidal summit of Monte Viso in your eye, you go straight on, in a
line parallel with the Alps, along the valley of the Po, which is but a
prolongation of the great plain of Lombardy. On my way down to these
valleys, I observed on the roadside numerous little temples, which the
natives, in true Pagan fashion, had erected to their deities. The niches
of these temples were filled with Madonnas, crucifixes, and saints,
gaunt and grizzly, with unlighted candles stuck before them, or rude
paintings and tinsel baubles hung up as votive offerings. The
signboards--especially those of the wine venders--were exceedingly
religious. They displayed, for the most part, a bizarre painting of the
Virgin, and occasionally of the Pope; and not unfrequently underneath
these personages were a company of heretics, such as those I was going
to visit, sweltering in flames. Were a Protestant vintner to sell his
ale beneath a picture of Catholics burning in hell, I fear we should
never hear the last of it. But I must say, that these pictures seemed
the production of past times. They were one and all sorely faded, as if
their owners were beginning to be somewhat ashamed of them, or lacked
zeal to repair them. The _conducteur_ of the stage had an Italian
translation of Mr Gladstone's well-known pamphlet on Naples in his hand,
which then covered all the book-stalls in Turin, and was read by every
one. This led to a lively discussion on the subject of the Church,
between him and two fellow-travellers, to whom I had been introduced at
starting, as Waldenses. I observed that, although he appeared to come
off but second best in the con