be given in the
following chapters. It was while on this journey that Dr. Gilly became
acquainted with the self-denying labours of the good Felix Neff among
those poor outlying Christians, with whose life and character he was
so fascinated that he afterwards wrote and published the memoir of
Neff, so well known to English readers.

[Footnote 98: Dr. Gilly's narrative of his second visit to
the valleys was published in 1831, under the title of
"Waldensian Researches."]

Since that time occasional efforts have been made in aid of the French
Vaudois, though those on the Italian side have heretofore commanded by
far the larger share of interest. There have been several reasons for
this. In the first place, the French valleys are much less accessible;
the roads through some of the most interesting valleys are so bad that
they can only be travelled on foot, being scarcely practicable even
for mules. There is no good hotel accommodation in the district, only
_auberges_, and these of an indifferent character. The people are also
more scattered, and even poorer than they are on the Italian side of
the Alps. Then the climate is much more severe, from the greater
elevation of the sites of most of the Vaudois villages; so that when
pastors were induced to settle there, the cold, and sterility, and
want of domestic accommodation, soon drove them away. It was to the
rigour of the climate that Felix Neff was eventually compelled to
succumb.

Yet much has been done of late years for the amelioration of the
French Vaudois; and among the most zealous workers in their behalf
have been the Rev. Mr. Freemantle, rector of Claydon, Bucks, and Mr.
Edward Milsom, the well-known merchant of Lyons. It was in the year
1851 that the Rev. Mr. Freemantle first visited the Vaudois of
Dauphiny. His attention was drawn to the subject while editing the
memoir of a young English clergyman, the Rev. Spencer Thornton, who
had taken Felix Neff for his model; and he was thereby induced to
visit the scene of Neff's labours, and to institute a movement on
behalf of the people of the French valleys, which has issued in the
erection of schools, churches, and pastors' dwellings in several of
the most destitute places.

It is curious and interesting to trace the influence of personal
example on human life and action. As the example of Oberlin in the Ban
de la Roche inspired Felix Neff to action, so the life of Felix Neff
inspired th