whatsoever but under Attestation from the Curate of their Parishes Certifying their good Life and their Exercising the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion After the reading of such a Declaration one may wonder that every Article of it was not backed with severe Penalties as Prison Gallies and Gallows as it was given out and expected but with general and ambiguous Threatnings only such as are We command on pain of exemplary Punishment to such as shall fail therein Or these To punish the Offenders by Fine or even by greater Penalties as the nature of the Cause shall require But the wonder will not be long and the Cunning of the New Declaration will be soon detected if one takes the care to scrape the Sweetness and Gold off the out side of the Pill by comparing it with the Edict of October 1685. and others made in pursuance thereof for he will immediately discover the Bitterness of it viz. That the Penalties expressed in the Edicts and Declarations already made on this account to which this New Declaration referreth the Reader are nothing else but Prisons Dungeons Gallows and wheels Thus they have heretofore exactly executed the French King's Declaration against the True Protestants and thus hereafter they will undoubtedly explain this New one For it was no sooner out but the Bishop of Mans to shew his Zeal published an hectoring Letter and Mandate wherein after having said that the King having forced the Protestant Princes and Allies to accept of the Peace his Majesty offered them had now a mind to Compel the timerous to a sincere Resolution to embrace the Catholick Faith He adds That pursuant to his Majesty's pious Intentions he requires all Deans Priests Curates of his Diocess to send in forthwith an exact List of those Families and Persons of both Sexes in their respective Parishes who are suspected of Heresie and shew no Marks of the Catholick Faith which they had seigned to have embraced If the zealous Bishop was speaking of forcing the Protestants we could not deny his Assertion because we know it by a very sad Experience but no body will grant to his Zeal That the French King hath constrained the Protestant Princes to receive in spight of their Teeth the Peace from his hands the French Plenipotentiaries themselves will convince his Lordship of the contrary I have My Lord several other Instances at hand of the Cruelties of this New Persecution But these which I have mentioned though few in number and in comparison to those we already know and what we have not as yet heard of because câ—â—mitted in Dungeons are sufficient to convince any reasonable Mâ—â— much more a Christian of the Reality and Fierceness of the New Persecution Nay we wish with all our Hearts that there were fewer Instances than those I have already related because then our suâ—fering Brethren would be less persecuted by the Papists and the Papists less guilty before God However in these few Particulars one many easily discover all the Characters of a barbarous Persecution and the sad case the French Protestants lie now under For let any judicious Man represent to himself on one hand a Potent Prince who is resolved at any rate to compleat the Destruction of the Protestant Religion in his Kingdom and his Magistrates Officers and Soldiers striving who shall be the most diligent in promoting his Design that is breathing out Threatnings and Slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord And taking Commission from their Superiours That if they should find any of this Faith whether they were Men or Women to bring them bound to some Prison or other and add to the horrour of dark and stinking Dungeons the most cruel Torments And all this practised not only in some but in all the Provinces of a vast Kingdom and not upon a few but upon all persons of what Rank Quality Condition Sex or Age whatsoever for the space of above Fifteen Years The Constancy they find every where and which deserves the Admiration and pity of the most barbarous Executioners increaseth rather than diminisheth their Fury and Cruelty And on the other hand after he has taken a View of the general Calamity that rages in all the Provinces and in all the Protestant Houses let him go into the Gallies he will find them full of Confessors upon the Roads he will meet with many others bound with Fetters Let him represent to himself the dark and stinking Dungeons full of Men and Women Maidens and Little Children and see the Tears and hear the Cries of both Parents and Children when snatched from their Bosoms Let him look on the Dragoons committing the greatest Outrages in a thousand and thousand Houses and in other places shooting killing and scattering great numbers of those who were gathered together to serve God And see Fathers and Mothers seized and dragg'd to prison in this Town because they have sent their Children out of the Kingdom and in other places many apprehended because they had a mind to depart and all in a general Motion either to hide themselves or to make their Escapes even over high Mountains that had been till now inaccessible Let him represent to himself great numbers of Apostates lying under the Lashes and Torments of their Conscience for having forsaken the Truth and committing to their own Knowledge Idolatry and on the contrary many Protestants and Ministers put to the Rack within the Walls of the Prison going on chearfully some to be hanged on the Gibbet and others to be broken upon the Wheel and he will have a glimpse but not a full sight of the New Persecution and conclude That France breeds now Monsters more horrid and cruel than Africa doth That the Papists strive to imitate and out do the Devil that roaring Lion and great Murtherer in damning Souls and to perform an impossible and contradictory thing that is to constrain the Protestants to believe Popery to be true which they are fully convinced in their own Consciences to be false But since the Papists will hearken neither to the Dictates of Humanity nor to the Principles of Christianity we have nothing else to do but to pray to God Almighty That he will be pleased to convert them and grant the Protestants the Gift of Patience and Constancy in their Suffering God is Witness my Lord to the many fervent Prayers your Piety hath heretofore put up in behalf of the afflicted French Reformed and many of them who came into this Kingdom are Witnesses to the Comforts your Charity hath so liberally afforded them So that I do not make any question but your Lordship will practise them both for the future and hope you will be pleased to receive kindly this doleful Discourse you have put me upon and which I could have enlarged but have contracted humbly offering it as a Token of my ready Obeisance to your Commands being with all the Respect possible My LORD Your Lordship 's most Humble And most Obliged Servant P. G. D. BOOKS Printed for and Sold by George Huddleston 1. THe Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury containing Fifty Sermons and Discourses on several Occasions Together with the Rule of Faith In 1 Vol. Fol. 2. An Introduction to the History of the Principal Kingdoms and States of Europe By Sam. Puffendorf Counsellor of State to the King of Sweden 8vo 3. Memoirs and Observations c. made in a late Journey through the Empire of China By Louis le Compte Jesuit The 2d Edition with a Map of Chinâ— 8vo 4. Kalendarium Hortense Or The Gard'ner's Almanack directing what he is to do monthly throughout the Year and what Fruits and Flowers are in prime By John Evelyn Esq F. R. S. 8vo 5. The Blessing 's of Eighty eight Or Some Discourses Meditations and Poems on our late Deliverance from Popery and Slavery By Tho. Lyster 8vo
our Subjects from going into the Principality of Orange nor from staying there so long as the Necessity of their Affairs or their Trade shall require Thus we give Command to our Beloved and Faithful Counsellors holding our Court of Parliament at Paris that they order these Presents to be Read Publish'd Registred and put in due Execution according to their Form and Tenor for is this our Will and Pleasure In Testimony whereof we have caused our Seal to be affixed to these Presents Given at Versailles this 23d Day of November 1697. and of our Reign the 55th By the King LOUIS And below PHELYPEAUX LEWIS by the Grace of GOD King of France and Navar to all to whom these Presents shall come Greeting Whereas by our Declaration of the 23d of November last we forbad all our Subjects of what Quality or Condition soever to settle in the Principality of Orange or to Perform any Exercise of the Pretended Reformed Religion there and at the same time we gave them leave to reside there so long as their Affairs or their Trade should require But being given to understand that several disaffected New Converts abus'd that Liberty and under the false Pretence of Trade which nevertheless they do not follow repair to the City of Orange there to perform the Exercises of the said Pretended Reformed Religion in defiance of our Prohibition And though it be our intention that our People should enjoy all the Advantages they can expect from the Peace and to favour Trade as much as it is possible for us to do by giving all the Encouragements necessary for the carrying of it on with the greatest Success Nevertheless as it would not be just that those of our Subjects who are refractory to our Orders should abuse the specious Pretence of Trade to evade the Execution of our Declarations we thought it Necessary to Explain our Meaning more precisely touching the Manner of their Trading for the future within the Principality of Orange to the end that they who have no other aim then to drive a Trade bona fide may do it more freely and without fear of the Penalties mentioned in our Declarations For these Causes conformable to our said Declaration of the 23d of November last we have and do permit by these Presents sign'd with our Hand all our ancient Catholick Subjects to Traffick and Trade in all manner of Goods and Merchandise in the Principality of Orange upon Condition however that before they set out for that Principality they ask leave of our Governors Commanders or Intendants of our Provinces where they shall have their Abodes to whom they shall declare the Nature and Condition of their Trade which being done leave shall be granted them without any scruple and when they shall arrive in the Province the nearest to that Principality they shall shew their License to the Governor Commander or Intendant under the following Penalties to be inflicted upon those who shall presume to go into the said Principality without Licenses viz. the Men to be Condemn'd to the Galleys for their Lives the Women to be five Years Imprison'd and to pay a Forfeiture of 3000 Liyres which Penalties shall neither be Remitted or Abated And it is our farther Pleasure that our said Declaration of the 23d of November last be exactly observed according to its full Form and Tenor. This we give in Command to all our beloved and faithful Counsellors c. Given at Versailles Jan. 13. 1698. and 55th of our Reign LOUIS And lower PHELYPEAUX The King's DECLARATION Giving leave to those who had departed his Kingdom for the sake of their Religion to come back again upon Condition of abjuring their Religion and professing the Roman LEWIS by the Grace of GOD c. greeting Having by our Edict of Octob. 1685. abolished throughout the whole Extent of our Kingdom the Exercise of the Pretended Reformed Religion which the Misfortunes of the preceding Reigns had oblig'd the Kings our Predecessors to Tolerate therein we forbad at the same time those of our Subjects who profess'd the said Religion to depart our Kingdom the Men under the Penalty of being Condemn'd to the Galleys the Women under the Penalty of Confiscation of Body and Goods And by our Declaration in May 1686. we forbad all those who had embraced the Roman Catholick Religion to depart the Kingdom under the same Penalties but in regard a great number of those who had the Misfortune to withdraw themselves into Foreign Countries contrary to those Prohitions have desired to return again and there to Profess and Exercise the Roman Catholick and Apostolick Religion and for as much as our Goodness to our Subjects has enclin'd us to give them particular Permission so to do It is our Pleasure also to grant a General one to the same end for all the rest who have the same desire and hereby to secure them all from the Penalties which they have incurr'd by their Disobedience to our Orders For these Reasons with the Advice of our Council and out of our especial Grace and Favour full Power and Royal Authority we have by these Presents Sign'd with our Hand Permitted and Granted as we do hereby permit and grant to all our Subjects as well Men as Women who left our Kingdom contrary to our Edicts of October 1685. and our Declaration of May 1686. to return back within six Months upon Condition that they Profess and Exercise the Roman Catholick and Apostolick Religion and freely there to remain behaving themselves therein like the rest of our Subjects And it is our farther Will and Pleasure that they make their Declaration of it to the respective Governor or Commander in the first place under our Obedience through which they shall pass in their Return into our Kingdom of which they shall take a Certificate Which same Declaration we order them also to reiterate three Days after their arrival before the Principal Officer of the Royal Bailliage where they intend to reside and within Eight days next following to make their Abjuration before the Archbishop or Bishop of the Place or before the Curate or other Ecclesiastick having power to receive it or to shew them their Certificate if they have done it in any other Place after their Return into our Kingdom to the end it may be allowed by them if they see cause so to do Which done we discharge them from the Corporal Punishments mentioned in our Edict and Declaration imposing as to this matter perpetual Silence upon our Proctors General and their Substitutes so that they shall not presume to prosecute them for the future for the same Matter upon any pretence whatsoever To this end we give in charge to our Beloved and Faithful Counsellors holding our Court of Parliament at Paris that they cause these Presents to be Read Publish'd and Registred and the Contents thereof to be put in Execution according to their Form and Tenor c. Given at Versailles February the 10th and of our
he is to provide with Victuals and allow besides 10 d. a day which Number may be encreased if it be thought convenient Given at Castres March 11. 1698. Signed BARBARA From Bordeaux March 15. 1698. HEre hath been published a Decree by which the New Converts are obliged to Baptize their Children within 24 Hours and to bring them up in the Romish Faith under the Forfeiture of 500 Livres By Order of Mr. de Sourdis Twenty young Girls have been taken from a School-Mistress's House and carried to the Ladies of the Faith They also continue their Prosecutions against the New Converts who shall fail in acquitting themselves of the Duties that are prescribed ' em From Paris March 31. THey have lately writ That they have put into the Convent of the New Catholicks the young Lady Bertha who was Contracted to a Gentleman who is a new Convert as well as her self At the same time they sent to the Bastile the Sieur Riviere a Lace Merchant who is also one of the New Reunited Sometime after they took up a Young Lady of Poitou whose Name is La Touche Cherâ—ut Niece to the Marquis Dangeau And from Bordeaux they write that all the Children of the New Converts are actually taken up and sent away to be Educated in the Roman Religion which puts them into a strange Consternation for they never expected such Usage who always so earnestly panted after Peace Some of these Gentlemen desir'd Passports to retire into Foreign Countries but instead of granting their Desires they are so much the more narrowly watch'd The Convent of the New Converts is so full that they are forced to hire a House in the Neighbourhood to supply their want of Room An Abstract of two Letters from Castres in Upper Languedoc May 10. 1698. THE Rage of our Enemies increases every day the Count Broglio is come hither since Tuesday last breathing out Threatnings and Slaughter against the Church of God He began by summoning all the heads of Families and would see every one of them in particular They all make a stout Resistance but are all dragg'd into Gaol and some of them have been banished Mr. Thomas is gone for Dijon Mr. Du Buisson who has five Children for the most part seized on as well as his Estate is sent beyond Moulins It would be too long to mention all by Name there might be some who had not strength enough to suffer all the Torments they were put to who however have not altogether promised to turn but desired time to consider out The number of them is very small I cannot forbear naming Mr. Auriol Uncle to those Gentlemen of his Name who live now in London and Mr. Cauaillé They have dragg'd Mr. Bernard into Prison after having quite ruined him and seized on his three Daughters whom they put into a Nunnery at L'â—â—trâ—â— But I will not insist upon Particulars They allow but three or four Hours time to those whom they take out of their Houses and do not enquire whether they have either wherewithal to bear their Charges or any Cartiage for their Journey To morrow is appointed for the Women to make their Personal appearance They are ready to go those at least who have any love for their Religion and the Number of them is very great Good God! why should we not all persist in the Faith both Men and Women for even Children of Ten years old hold out and there is not one among them willing to yield This is a Miracle which God Almighty sets before our Eyes and which we must make a good use of This Roaring Lion the Count Broglio went the day before yesterday to Roque-courbe but all the Inhabitants of it having forsaken their respective Houses he met no body there and threatned to raze their Town to the very Ground in case they refuse to return home They have cited all the Heads of Families living in our Hill-Country A great many of them arrived here yesterday most of them are put in Prison And I do not think that they have as yet muster'd them all In short our Miseries are very great and we cannot say when God Almighty will be pleased to come and relieve us Can it be possible that the Protestant Princes should quite forsake us Alas We beg nothing else of them but their intercession to our Great King in order to obtain the Liberty of going out of his Dominions This favour perhaps would be granted to their Request In short our Enemies excuse their hard-heartedness with this pretence saying That their ill usage against us is only by way of Reprisal since the Irish Catholicks are more severely dealt with by the English Protestants We cannot believe what they say but should be very glad to be informed of the Truth of it We still entreat the Prayers of the Church Castres May the 18th 1698. WHo is able to give a full Description of our Miseries It is impossible for a Humane Soul to reach it Our Calamities are so great that no body can express them The Count Broglio went from hence on Monday last after having either banished or Imprisoned part of the Inhabitants There is no need of giving you their Names And at his departure he left Orders to carry Bills to their respective Houses whereby they were all admonished to go to Mass and in case they do not appear there by a Decree made for that purpose the Goods and Estates of the Rebels for so they call us are to be seized and their Houses demolished The Bills were delivered but they answered The King is Master of both our Goods and Lives and we are ready to give them up for his Service but our Souls belong to God only This Answer hath been set down in writing not perhaps at length but at last they entred us in the Register-Book not as good Subjects but as Rebels to our Great King We shall in all probability shortly see the Issue of this Decree for the execution hath constantly attended their Threatnings The poor Inhabitants of Roquecourbe have for saken their Houses The Papists thought they would come back again but they were mistaken for they have not been seen since although they have sent a hundred Men to prevail upon them to return home by the fear of their total Ruin 'T is not known whither they did retire as well as the Inhabitants of la Crousette and other neighbouring places Questionless they live in Holes and Dens like the Primitive Christians They write from Montauban That 800 Families there have deserted their Houses and are ready to bear the Assault they are preparing against them They have seized on the Estate of Mr. de Lespinesse because he would not deliver up a Son of Mr. Câ—mdoner the Minister His Wife is ready to be brought to bed and is in the Street because no body is in a Condition to relieve her They have also given a Judgment in Court against and seized on the Estate of Mr. Pelisster le
Gaudeul before Justice Ellis August 8. 1698. CAtherine de Gaudeul born in Alenson in Normandy lately come from France maketh Oath That being removed by a Letter under the French King 's Privy Signet into a Prison at Paris named La Salpetriere upon the Account of her Religion two Protestant Women born in Meaux were likewise sent thither for the same Cause and used with very great Cruelty But because they would by no means turn Papists but on the contrary went as often as they could into retired Places to Pray and sing Praises unto God kneeling in the Mire and upon Snow Marguerite Pataclain the Superior and Governess of the said Prison and Ann Bâ—ucheron her Assistant put a wet Sheet on one of them and shut her into a Room with two Mad Women who fell upon her and dispatched her by thrusting up their Hands and pulling her Bowels out of her Body which was afterwards boiled and Dissected by Surgeons That her fellow sufferer named Sarah was sent next to the said Mad Women whom she pacified a little by giving them what Money she had by her But for all that she received many Blows and Wounds from them That when the said Sarah came out of the said Room she informed the other Prisoners that she had trod upon and seen the Guts of her Friend and that the Mad women told her how they had killed her and threatned to do as much to her self if she would not turn Papist and that the said Fact was so Notorious in the Prison that many of the Prisoners Papists as well as others did many times charge the above said Governess and her Assistant with the Murder of the Deceased Catherine de Gaudeul Jurat Coram me 8 die Aug. 1698. Tho. Ellis Uzes in Languedoc October 21. 1698. N. S. I Came yesterday from Montpellier where I had been about our Brother-in-Law Business where I heard that a Fair was to be held at Orange and was really so the 25th of August last in order to facilitate the Commerce and to shew as it was given out by the Papists that they had no mind to hinder any body from going to Trade in that Principality Accordingly our Intendant ordered That all the Guards who were set at Roquimaure Ardoise and all other posts on the Rhone should be taken off All those who went or pretended to go to the said fair did assist there at the publick Exercises of the Protestant Religion and at their return to their respective homes declared publickly that they had seen no Guard on the Road and that all the Passes were free and open This good News was so great an Encouragement that the First Sunday in September last being appointed for administring the Holy Sacrament Two or three thousand of our Protestants of both Sexes throng'd thither But our Intendant having been informed of it set Soldiers on all the Avenues who seized about One hundred of them at their return and binding them two and two together brought them in that Posture to Monipellier where they were no sooner come but they were immediately sentenced and sent to the Gallies and 38 Women and Maidens condemned to Prison for Six years And our poor Brother-in-Law is one of the Number Think I pray what condition our poor Sister and her Daughter are in God grant all these Confessors strength to suffer patiently their Affliction and to carry chearfully their Chains without repining seeing they suffer for no other reason but for Worshipping and Praying to God in his Church Among them there are Mr. Bourelly one of the Brothers of Mr. Fabre Apothecary the very same who served His Majesty of Great Britain Ten or Twelve Years in Holland and Ireland and was after married at Courtezon a Town belonging to the Principality of Orange The Brother-in-Law of another Fabre Apothecary at Bagnots Mr. Ribes and Jonquent Merchants of Nimes A Merchant of Alez in Cevennes another living about Roubiac Nephew to Mr. Christol of Servieres a Son and Daughter of Mr. Lafons Attorney of Servay a Brother of Mr. Carrieres who lives now in London there will be now two Brothers together for one of them has been these Twelve Years in the Gallies resolutely persisting in the Reformed Religon I saw his Father at Montpellier solliciting for him but to no purpose I never saw so dismal a Spectacle No body was exempted from Punishment but only three Youths of 14 years of Age and an Old Man named Jaumes of Vzes Aged 75. All the rest of those that were condemn'd and sent to the Gallies were Inhabitants of Lussan La Bruguiere Nimes St. Laurens and other Neighbouring Towns c. Orange October 5. 1698. HEre lately happened a thing which will strike you with Horror and oblige you to join your Prayers with ours to implore Gods Mercy They had taken all the Guands away from the Towns in the Neighbourhood of this Principality so that it was generally believed every body might have liberty to go and return freely This was the reason that a great many came hither upon a Communion-Day but in their return home over the River Rhoues they were stript Naked and knock'd down with Cudgels and those who return'd into Dauphine going through Camaret were by the order of the Pope's Nuncio in Avignon Assaulted and Murthered by the Country People but many of these Boors who had surrounded them were killed because having made a Ring to prevent their Escape the shots from one side bore to those of the other opposite to it You will in a short time see an Exact and Faithful Relation of it The Papists have taken away the Crosses they had formerly set up on the Ruines of our Churches with a great deal of Pomp and Ceremony after having adorn'd them with Ribbands Garlands and the most precious Things they had I have no time to say any more about it but this action strikes all good Men with Horror POSTSCRIPT There are in this Town about Four hundred of those Protestants who were come hither who having either tarried behind or seen how severely those who went before were used came back again remain shut up and dare not go home for fear either of the Gallies or Prisons and chiefly since they hear that they have seen at Nimes Fourscore of them bound in Chains and going to the Gallies of Marseilles Vittre in Brittany November 2. 1698. Dear Sister SInce my last I have been Arrested by an Order under the King's Privy-Signet and sent Prisoner to Vannes where I shall be kept till I produce my Son Daniel and therefore I earnestly beg of you that so soon as you have received this you will send him back again to me by the first opportunity Pray do not lose time about it for the Intendant is at Rennes and threatneth to do me all the Mischief imaginable and to let me rot in Prison in case I do not make my Son return from London where I had lately sent him Do not fail therefore to
Reign the 55th Signed LOVIS And Lower PHILYPEAVX These Declarations have been both preceded and followed by particular orders to the Intendants of all the Provinces of the Kingdom against the Reformed empowering them to give Sentence without Appeal against the New Converts who have been taken in some Assemblies and to seize upon all the Children who were of years to receive Instruction at the same time Inhibitions were set forth prohibiting all the newly Reunited to Exercise any Employment or Trade unless they perform all the Duties of Good Catholicks This we were informed of in November last and received advice in January following that by the King's Command to the Intendant of the Province of Languedoe all the New Converts who have Children of Age to go to School are oblig'd to send them thither as also to publick Instructions and Catechisms upon pain of being constrained by pecuniary Mulcts and other ways of Severity and if they persevere in Disobedience they are to have Soldiers quarter'd upon them to whom they are to pay so much a day till they comply and also to be further prosecuted and punish'd as the King shall ordain School-Masters and Mistresses Curates and Vicars are to take a List at the beginning of every Year of the New Converts Children and if they fail to come to School they are to give Notice of it to the Kings Intendant and the School-Masters and Mistresses are obliged to go every day to Mass with the Children committed to their care c. These Declarations and Orders have been so diligently and severely Executed that many will I fear speak on their Death-beds as Cardinal Wolsey did on his If I bad served my God as well as I have done my King he would not at this time have cast me off as you may see by the few following Instances In December last they writ from Poitou That the Sieur de Mâ—â—pcon D'Ablege Intendant of Justice gave Sentence without Appeal upon several New Converts of that Country that were assembled together for the Exercise of their Religion two of which he caused to be hang'd one at Poitiers and the other at St. Maixant and he has also Condemn'd several to the Galleys others to Banishment and others to terrible Forfeitures A Copy of a Letter from Poitou in last March HEre has been published by Sound of Trumpet an Ordinance of the King 's by which all Persons are enjoin'd to discover those of the Pretended Reformed Religion who are return'd or shall hereafter return from Foreign Countries to the end they may be forced to make their Abjuration To which purpose Commissioners are appointed in every Quarter who have order to look after this Affair They have also Registred the Children of all the new Converts that are in this City and have signified to their Fathers and Mothers that 't is the King's Pleasure that they themselves should carry them regularly to Mass under the Forfeiture of Twenty Five Livres and to have Dragoons quartered upon them every time they miss Which hath been put in Execution in Sevennes and in other Quarters at Somizes a Town near Montpellier they have raised above 2000 Livres by Forfeitures of this Nature Our Intendant continues his Rigour in the Execution of these Severities with an indefatigable and furious Zeal Within this little while he Condemn'd to Death three Ministers who were hang'd within a few Days after they were taken He has also Condemn'd two Men to the Galleys for having been at Orange without leave And sending for some of our most considerable Merchants he told 'em That the King was resolved to have but one Religion in France and that if the New Converts did not go to Mass and Conform as good Catholicks ought to do they would be ruin'd and sack'd by the Soldiers We expect here Monsieur De Broglio with two Regiments of Dragoons who are to be quartered upon those that refuse to do as they are ordered A Copy of the Affidavit that Francis Daubinet made before a Justice of Peace in March 1698. FRancis Daubinet Merchant a Protestant born in Montpellier maketh Oath That in January last he saw one du Plan of St. Laurens le Munier in Sevennes hang'd in a Place call'd les Planade between the Citadel and the City of Montpellier upon no other account than that of having pray'd to God That he saw the said du Plan going out of the said Citadel to the Gibbet praying to God with great Fervency and that he heard him then making Complaints against two Jesuits who would needs accompany him to the place of Execution with a Crucifix in their hands and saying Merciless Men you have not long since put my two Brothers to death and now I give up my Life as well as they have already done for Christ and his Holy Protestant Religion And that when they offer'd to save his Life if he would abjure his Religion and turn Papist he answer'd He would not do it And that the Jesuits perceiving that his Prayers which were very fervent caused great attention among the People and drew Tears from the Spectators ordered five Drummers to beat their Drums to hinder thereby the People from hearing his Prayers This Deponent moreover says That about a Fortnight before this Execution he saw Mr. Rowzier living in a Town near Jomieres in Languedoc brought out of the Citadel of Montpellier in order to be conducted to Marseilles and sent to the Galleys there as a Slave pursuant to his Condemnation for having accompanied to Orange a Protestant Maid the Papists saying That the French King would have none of his Subjects to go and hear any Prayers and Sermons in Orange or to have any Commerce with that City This Deponent does further declare That in the beginning of February last several Persons of Villevielle near Somieres went to Montpellier to complain to the Intendant Baville That Mr. de Villeville Lord of the Manour of the said Town had killed a Woman by beating her with a Stick to force her to go to Mass and struck out another's right Eye But all the Justice the Plaintiffs got from the Intendant for the said Murder and Cruelty was only this Answer That Mr. de Villeville had put in execution the Orders he had received from the King whom every body ought to obey by going to Mass c. All these Particulars the Deponent certifies upon Oath to be true and notoriously known to all the Inhabitants of Montpellier A Copy of a Warrant the Original whereof was sent from Castres to a Refugee living in London MR. or Mrs having failed to send his Son or Daughter to the Catechism and Mass this Day shall pay to Mr. Charteau Receiver of the Fines levied upon the New Converts the Sum of 25 Livres and till he has made the said Payment and obeyed the Orders of my Lord Intendant expressed in his Ordinance on the 22d of December last Four Soldiers of the Militia shall be Quartered upon him whom
and the other False was That he had endeavoured to bring during the late War the Enemy into the Kingdom and stirr up a Rebellion Mr. Brousson confessed the former but denied peremptorily and absolutely the second Article And every one knows that 't is the Custom of Papists to charge the Protestants with Crimes against the State in order to Extenuate their own Barbarity and Eclipse the Glory of the Sufferings and Martyrdoms of the Reformed But the Truth is the thing was resolved before hand Mr. Brousson was to die And therefore he was condemned to be put to the Rack and Tortured both Ordinary and Extraordinary and next to be broken alive upon the Wheel When they came to read the Sentence to him he shewed an undaunted Courage and a great Resignation to God's Will The Reading of his Sentence being over he was brought and presented to the Torture and being stretched Naked on the Bench he said to the Commissary That he had told the Truth of what they had asked him concerning himself That if they had forgot any thing else he was ready to give a Faithful answer to it but as to his Brethren it was to no purpose to urge him to declare them for he had rather be torn in pieces than to betray his Ministry As soon as he had declared this he was taken off the Bench and excused the Rack upon which he said I will magnifie the Lord as long as I live c. The Courage Mildness and Innocence the Intendant discovered in the secret Conferences he had with his Prisoner prevailed I think upon him to abate something of his Cruelty When these things were thus practised within the Citadel they were Erecting without in a Place called L'Esplonade a Scaffold whither Mr. Brousson was brought in his ordinary Habit about Four of the Clock the same Afternoon without having his Hands or Feet tied and attended by the Abbot Camarignam I saw him going to Execution earnestly Praying and looking stedfastly up to Heaven One cannot express the Mildness and Courage wherewith he went and ascended the Scaffold One might easily discover the Calmness of his Soul by his chearful Countenance in his way to the Place of Execution and all the while hear the Sighings and Groans of the People who bewailed the hard Fate of a Man of so great Merit and Piety Having ascended the Scaffold he began to deliver his Dying Speech which was no doubt as Pious and Comfortable as his Life had before been but we were hinder'd from hearing much of it because on such Occasions the Papists beat Drums to prevent by their Noise the good Effect of the pious Exhortations and Prayers of the Reformed Martyrs This was the Reason why Mr. Brousson put off his own Cloths and yielded both his Hands and Feet to be fastned on the Cross saying That he esteemed himself very happy in that his Death had some likeness with that of his Saviour 'T was only at that time they read to him that Clause of his Sentence whereby he was to be Strangled before he was broken upon the Wheel The Executioner after having fastned him went down under the Scaffold and having half-strangled him the Billet broke which accident made Mr. Brousson come to himself again and the Abbot Camarignam hearing him pray to God came near him to whom Mr. Brousson said Sir I pray God Almighty reward your Charity towards me and grant us the favour to see one another in his Paradise These were the last Words of his for he was immediately Strangled and Broken upon the Wheel This great Man hath been lamented by all the Papists themselves have been amazed at this sight of Courage and Resolution and the Protestants though sorry for his loss were yet Comforted for so great an Example of Resignation to God and Zeal and Constancy for the Defence of his Gospel and indeed this is an illustrious and extraordinary Instance in the Age we live in wherein we see so little Zeal for the True Religion and and so very great though Blind Zeal for propagating the False one by Persecution and shedding of Bloud Mr. Brousson's Death was a Sermon more Moving and Eloquent than all those he delilivered in his Life time I do not make any question but the Intendant Baville might say of Mr. Brousson with as much reason as he did concerning another Minister he had some years before put to Death If the Hugonots serve the same God we do there will be a sad reckoning for him and other Papists And one enquiring of the Executioner about Mr. Brousson a little after the Execution He answered That if he durst speak he could say much but could not forbear saying That he died like a Saint I thought My Lord to have brought here my Task to an End but am prevented by a New Declaration against the French Protestants whereby the French King will have them to know what Usage they are for the future to Expect in case they do not turn good Catholicks the Abstract whereof I now give your Lordship The Declaration was given at Versailles the 13th of December 1698. and Registred in Parliament Wherein his Majesty enjoyns the Execution of this Edict in October 1685. repealing the Edict of Nantes and of others made in pursuance thereof Forbids all his Subjects to Exercise the Pretended Reformed Religion to meet together in any Place on this account in any Number or on any pretence whatsover And to harbour any Ministers and directly or indirectly to hold any Correspondence with them He admonishes and enjoins all Archbishops and Bishops to employ their utmost Zeal in the Instruction of the New Converts and to order their Curates at least on Sundays and Holidays to read Instructions and Catechisms to them He recommends especially to the Lords of Mannors and the said New Converts to assist exactly at Divine Service and Commands them that they always behave themselves therein with Reverence especially during the time of the Celebrating the Holy-Mass and adore on their Knees the most Holy Sacrament on the Altar and observe Abstinency from Flesh He Commandeth all the New Converts to cause their Children to be Baptized in their Parish-Churches within 24 Hours after their Birth and all the Midwives to give the Curate of the Place Notice of the Birth of such Children He enjoyns the establishment in all Parishes as much as is possible Masters and Mistresses in order to Instruct particularly the Children born of Parents formerly Protestants all Guardians to send them to the Schools and Catechisms and bring them before the Archbishop or Bishop when they shall require it in the Course of their Visitations He commandeth all Physicians Apothecaries and Chirurgeons who shall be called to visit Sick Persons to give notice thereof to the Curates of their Parishes that the Patient may from time to time receive the Benefit of the Sacraments And in fine That no Person shall be admitted into any publick Place Office and Employment