ad not been able to fly into the upper valleys were
indiscriminately put to the sword. And thus was Easter celebrated.

The noise of this dreadful deed rang through Europe, and excited a
general feeling of horror, especially in England. Cromwell, then at
the height of his power, offered the fugitive Vaudois an asylum in
Ireland; but the distance which lay between was too great, and the
Vaudois asked him to help them in some other way. Forthwith, he
addressed letters, written by his secretary, John Milton,[97] to the
principal European powers, calling upon them to join him in putting a
stop to these horrid barbarities committed upon an unoffending
people. Cromwell did more. He sent the exiles L2,000 out of his own
purse; appointed a day of humiliation and a general collection all
over England, by which some L38,000 were raised; and dispatched Sir
Samuel Morland as his plenipotentiary to expostulate in person with
the Duke of Savoy. Moreover, a treaty was on the eve of being signed
with France; and Cromwell refused to complete it until Cardinal
Mazarin had undertaken to assist him in getting right done to the
people of the valleys.

[Footnote 97: It was at this time that Milton wrote his noble
sonnet, beginning--

"Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughter'd saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold," &c.]

These energetic measures had their effect. The Vaudois who survived
the massacre were permitted to return to their devastated homes, under
the terms of the treaty known as the "Patents of Grace," which was
only observed, however, so long as Cromwell lived. At the Restoration,
Charles II. seized the public fund collected for the relief of the
Vaudois, and refused to remit the annuity arising from the interest
thereon which Cromwell had assigned to them, declaring that he would
not pay the debts of a usurper!

After that time, the interest felt in the Vaudois was very much of a
traditional character. Little was known as to their actual condition,
or whether the descendants of the primitive Vaudois Church continued
to exist or not. Though English travellers--amongst others, Addison,
Smollett, and Sterne--passed through the country in the course of last
century, they took no note of the people of the valleys. And this
state of general ignorance as to the district continued down to within
about the last fifty years, when quite a new interest was imparted to
the subject