he Prince. One day he asked him for some pistoles to
replace a horse which had been killed under him in action. The Prince
replied, "I should like to give you them, but do you see I have only
three shirts!" Pierre at length became Seigneur and Baron of Manvers,
though his chateau was destroyed and burnt during his absence with the
army. Destructions of the same kind were constantly taking place
throughout the whole of France. But, to the honour of humanity, it
must be told that when his chateau was last destroyed, the Catholic
gentlemen of the neighbourhood brought their labourers to the place,
and tilled and sowed his abandoned fields. When Rapin arrived eight
months later, he was surprised and gratified to find his estate in
perfect order. This was a touching proof of the esteem with which this
Protestant gentleman was held by his Catholic neighbours.

Pierre de Rapin died in 1647 at the age of eighty-nine. He left
twenty-two children by his second wife. His eldest son Jean succeeded
to the estate of Manvers and to the title of baron. Like his father,
he was a soldier. He first served under the Prince of Orange, who was
then a French prince, head of the principality of Orange. He served
under the King of France in the war with Spain. He was a frank and
loyal soldier, yet firmly attached to the faith of his fathers. He
belonged to the old Huguenot phalanx, who, as the Duke de Mayenne
said, "were always ready for death, from father to son." After the
wars were over, he gave up the sword for the plough. His chateau was
in ruins, and he had to live in a very humble way until his fortunes
were restored. He used to say that his riches consisted in his four
sons, who were all worthy of the name they bore.

Jacques de Rapin, Seigneur de Thoyras, was the second son of Pierre de
Rapin. Thoyras was a little hamlet near Grenade, adjacent to the
baronial estate of Manvers. Jacques studied the law. He became an
advocate, and practised with success, for about fifty years, at
Castres and other cities and towns in the south of France. When the
Edict of Nantes was revoked, the Protestants were no longer permitted
to practise the law, and he was compelled to resign his profession. He
died shortly after, but the authorities would not even allow his
corpse to be buried in the family vault. They demolished his place of
interment, and threw his body into a ditch by the side of the road.

In the meantime Paul de Rapin, son of Jean, Baron d