Nantes, but he tore off clause after clause.

In 1630--that is, a year after the peace with Rohan had been signed in
the preceding reign--Chalons-sur-Saone had resolved that no Protestant
should be allowed to take any part in the manufactures of the town.

In 1643, six months after the accession of Louis XIV, the laundresses of
Paris made a rule that the wives and daughters of Protestants were
unworthy to be admitted to the freedom of their respectable guild.

In 1654, just one year after he had attained his majority, Louis XIV
consented to the imposition of a tax on the town of Nimes of 4000 francs
towards the support of the Catholic and the Protestant hospitals; and
instead of allowing each party to contribute to the support of its own
hospital, the money was raised in one sum, so that, of the money paid by
the Protestants, who were twice as numerous as the Catholics, two-sixths
went to their enemies. On August 9th of the same year a decree of the
Council ordered that all the artisan consuls should be Catholics; on the
16th September another decree forbade Protestants to send deputations to
the king; lastly, on the 20th of December, a further decree declared that
all hospitals should be administered by Catholic consuls alone.

In 1662 Protestants were commanded to bury their dead either at dawn or
after dusk, and a special clause of the decree fixed the number of
persons who might attend a funeral at ten only.

In 1663 the Council of State issued decrees prohibiting the practice of
their religion by the Reformers in one hundred and forty-two communes in
the dioceses of Nimes, Uzes, and Mendes; and ordering the demolition of
their meetinghouses.

In 1664 this regulation was extended to the meeting-houses of Alencon and
Montauban, as Well as their small place of worship in Nimes. On the 17th
July of the same year the Parliament of Rouen forbade the master-mercers
to engage any more Protestant workmen or apprentices when the number
already employed had reached the proportion of one Protestant, to fifteen
Catholics; on the 24th of the same month the Council of State declared
all certificates of mastership held by a Protestant invalid from whatever
source derived; and in October reduced to two the number of Protestants
who might be employed at the mint.

In 1665 the regulation imposed on the mercers was extended to the
goldsmiths.

In 1666 a royal declaration, revising the decrees of Parliament, was
published, a