ladies of
honor. One house at Harlaem was exclusively reserved for young ladies of
noble birth. At the Hague, an ancient convent of preaching monks was
changed into an asylum for the persecuted ladies. Of all lands which
received the refugees, none witnessed such crowds as the Republic of
Holland; and hence Boyle called it '_the grand arch of the refugees_.'
No documents exactly compute their number; one author calculates it at
fifty-five thousand, and another, in 1686, at nearly seventy-five
thousand souls. In the Dutch Republic and Germany, as was the result in
England, the Huguenots exercised a most powerful influence on politics,
literature, war, and religion, and industry and commerce. Holland,
contrary to the general expectation, outlived the invasion of 1672, the
Prince of Orange fortunately checking the designs of Louis XIV. Refugee
soldiers had powerfully contributed to the triumph of his cause in
England, Scotland, and Ireland, and then they followed him, with valor,
in the war against Louis XIV., which compelled that monarch to sue for
peace.

Literary men and preachers obtained repose and liberty in that land,
with consideration and honor. Amsterdam alone received sixteen banished
refugee ministers; and more than two hundred spread themselves through
all the towns of the United Provinces. Very eloquent French pastors
filled the pulpits of the Hague, Rotterdam, Leyden, and Harlaem. Their
most brilliant orator was James Saurin. Abbaddie, hearing him for the
first time, exclaimed, 'Is this a man or an angel, who is speaking to
us?' Let us dwell a moment upon the character of this wonderful man. By
the elevation of his thoughts and brilliancy of imagination, his
luminous expositions, purity of style, with vigor of expression, he
produced the most profound impression on the refugees and others who
crowded to hear his varied eloquence. What charmed them most was the
union in his style of Genevese zeal and earnestness with southern ardor,
and especially those solemn prayers, with which he loved to close his
discourses. Saurin displayed in these petitions strains of supplication
which up to this time among the Hollanders had never been observed in
any other preacher.

All the branches of human learning were advanced in Holland by the
Protestant Frenchmen. Here no fetters on genius, no secret censorship or
persecution, existed. The boldest democratic theories, with the most
daring philosophic systems, were freely