quely wooded hills, green pastures, and fertile
fields stretching along the river-sides, yielding a rich territory for
the plough.

Yet, beautiful and peaceful though this valley of the Pelice now
appears, there is scarcely a spot in it but has been consecrated by
the blood of martyrs to the cause of liberty and religion. In the
rugged defile of the Mirabouc, which we have just passed, is the site
of a battle fought between the Piedmontese troops and the Vaudois
peasants, at a place called the Pian-del-Mort, where the persecuted,
turning upon the persecutors, drove them back, and made good their
retreat to their mountain fastnesses. Bobi itself was the scene of
many deadly struggles. A little above the village, on a rocky plateau,
are the remains of an ancient fort, near the hamlet of Sibaud, where
the Vaudois performed one of their bravest exploits under Henri
Arnaud, after their "Glorious Return" from exile,--near which, on a
stone still pointed out, they swore fidelity to each other, and that
they would die to the last man rather than abandon their country and
their religion.

Near Bobi is still to be seen a remarkable illustration of English
interest long ago felt in the people of these valleys. This is the
long embankment or breakwater, built by a grant from Oliver Cromwell,
for the purpose of protecting the village against the inundations of
the Pelice, by one of which it was nearly destroyed in the time of the
Protectorate. It seems strange indeed that England should then have
stretched out its hand so far, to help a people so poor and
uninfluential as the Vaudois; but their sufferings had excited the
sympathies of all Europe, and of Protestant England in particular,
which not only sent them sympathy, but substantial succour. Cromwell
also, through the influence of Cardinal Mazarin, compelled the Duke of
Savoy to suspend for a time the persecution of his subjects,--though
shortly after the Protector's death it waxed hotter than ever.

All down the valley of the Pelice, we come upon village after
village--La Piante, Villar, and Cabriol--which have been the scenes
sometimes of heroic combats, and sometimes of treacherous massacres.
Yet all the cruelty of Grand Dukes and Popes during centuries did not
avail in turning the people of the valley from their faith. For they
continue to worship after the same primitive forms as they did a
thousand years ago; and in the principal villages and hamlets, though
Romanism h