ing for the mass of
the central Alps.

For three days they wandered from place to place, gradually moving
southwards, their object now being to take up their position at the
Pra du Tour, the ancient fortress of the Barbas in the valley of
Angrogna. Before, however, they could reach this stronghold, and while
they were still at Pramol in the valley of Perosa, news of the most
unexpected kind reached them, which opened up the prospect of their
deliverance. The news was no other than this--Savoy had declared war
against France!

A rupture between the two powers had for some time been imminent.
Louis XIV. had become more and more exacting in his demands on the
Duke of Savoy, until the latter felt himself in a position of
oppressive vassalage. Louis had even intimated his intention of
occupying Verrua and the citadel of Turin; and the Duke, having
previously ascertained through his cousin, Prince Eugene, the
willingness of the Emperor of Austria, pressed by William of Orange,
to assist him in opposing the pretensions of France, he at length took
up his stand and declared war against Louis.

The Vaudois were now a power in the state, and both parties alike
appealed to them for help, promising them great favours. But the
Vaudois, notwithstanding the treachery and cruelty of successive Dukes
of Savoy, were true to their native prince. They pledged themselves to
hold the valleys and defend the mountain passes against France.

In the first engagements which took place between the French and the
Piedmontese, the latter were overpowered, and the Duke became a
fugitive. Where did he find refuge? In the valleys of the Vaudois, in
a secluded spot in the village of Rora, behind the Pelice, he found a
safe asylum amidst the people whose fathers he had hunted, proscribed,
and condemned to death.

But the tide of war turned, and the French were eventually driven out
of Piedmont. Many of the Vaudois, who had settled in Brandenburg,
Holland, and Switzerland, returned and settled in the valleys; and
though the Dukes of Savoy, with their accustomed treachery, more than
once allowed persecution to recommence, their descendants continue to
enjoy the land, and to worship after the manner of their fathers down
to the present day.

The Vaudois long laboured under disabilities, and continued to be
deprived of many social and civil rights. But they patiently bided
their time; and the time at length arrived. In 1848 their emancipation
was on