ers. His wife and three daughters, with
some others, were taken captive. One hundred and twenty-six persons were
put to death, and the scenes of the former week were renewed in all their
horrible atrocity. The news of this frightful massacre sent a thrill of
horror through all that portion of Europe whose sensibilities had not been
drugged by the poisonous teaching of the Church of Rome, viz., that
heretics are malefactors, and as such may be lawfully exterminated like
wild beasts. The representatives of England, Holland, and Switzerland
protested against these doings. Cromwell set an example to all rulers,
whether kings or presidents. His envoy, Sir Samuel Morland, read a despatch
in the presence of Carlo, Emmanuel II., Duke of Savoy, and of his mother,
who, under the instigation of the Romish priests, had caused the massacre,
which contained the following passage:--"If all the tyrants of all times
and ages were alive again, certainly they would be ashamed when they should
find that they had contrived nothing in comparison with these things that
might be reputed barbarous and inhuman." The poetical fervour of Milton
gave forth the following noble invocation:--

"Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold!

* * * * *

Forget not; in Thy book record their groans
Who were Thy sheep, and in their ancient fold,
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they to heaven."

The result of these circumstances was the delusive treaty of Pinerolo,
agreed to in the month of August, 1655. This treaty was hurried on in spite
of the request of the plenipotentiaries from England and Holland for a
delay, in order that they might secure better terms for the inhabitants of
the valleys. While freedom of worship was promised, it was restricted by
many irksome conditions; _e.g._, preaching was forbidden in the commune of
S. Giovanni and the town of La Torre, and, moreover, the castle of the
latter place was rebuilt and garrisoned, a grievance which the Vaudois had
especially protested against. The grievances which grew out of the treaty
of Pinerolo, and the events which preceded that ill-conditioned arrangement
in the interval between the week of massacre and the date of its signature,
are so closely connected with the exploits and history of J