een taken prisoner with him)
provided Paul Rabaut, the chief pastor of the Desert, a hard-working
and indefatigable man, would leave France and reside abroad. But
neither Fabre, nor Rabaut, nor the Huguenots generally, had any
confidence in the mercy of the Catholics, and the proposal was coldly
declined.

Fabre was next sent to Toulon under a strong escort of cavalry. He was
there registered in the class of convicts; his hair was cut close; he
was clothed in the ignominious dress of the galley-slave, and placed
in a galley among murderers and criminals, where he was chained to one
of the worst. The dinner consisted of a porridge of cooked beans and
black bread. At first he could not touch it, and preferred to suffer
hunger. A friend of Fabre, who was informed of his starvation, sent
him some food more savoury and digestible; but his stomach was in such
a state that he could not eat even that. At length he became
accustomed to the situation, though the place was a sort of hell, in
which he was surrounded by criminals in rags, dirt, and vermin, and,
worst of all, distinguished for their abominable vileness of speech.
He was shortly after seized with a serious illness, when he was sent
to the hospital, where he found many Huguenot convicts imprisoned,
like himself, because of their religion.[79]

[Footnote 79: Letter of Jean Fabre, in Athanase Coquerel's
"Forcats pour la Foi," 201-3.]

Repeated applications were made to Saint-Florentin, the Secretary of
State, by Fabre's relatives, friends, and fellow Protestants for his
liberation, but without result. After he had been imprisoned for some
years, a circumstance happened which more than anything else
exasperated his sufferings. The young lady to whom he was engaged had
an offer of marriage made to her by a desirable person, which her
friends were anxious that she should accept. Her father had been
struck by paralysis, and was poor and unable to maintain himself as
well as his daughter. He urged that she should give up Fabre, now
hopelessly imprisoned for life, and accept her new lover.

Fabre himself was consulted on the subject; his conscience was
appealed to, and how did he decide? It was only after the bitterest
struggle, that he determined on liberating his betrothed. He saw no
prospect of his release, and why should he sacrifice her? Let her no
longer be bound up with his fearful fate, but be happy with another if
she could.

The young lady yi