ProtestantP R E FA C E .
I N order that the two volumes on Protestant E xiles from France in the reign of Louis
may be serviceable to historical and genealogical students, i t i s necessary to provide
this Index-Volume. T he author takes the opportunity of introducing new memoirs , and
i llustrative documents and notes— especially memoirs of refugees in former reign s (fugi tives
from the Duke of Alva , the St Bartholomew Massacre, and their descendants. T he
surnames in volumes first and second are re produced in a careful analysis of the whole work.
Additional surnames , admitted in conformity wi th the plan of volume third , are incorporated
in the Analysi s , and the Alphabetical T ables refer to the pages in volume third. T he original
work has thus been zealously supplemented , annotated
, and corrected , so that the possessors
of volumes first and second have in thi s Index-Volume all the advantages of a new and
improved edition , w i thout the d isadvantage of their former purchasebecoming reduced in
pecuniary value. I t is impos sible that the author can reprint the original work. For the
sake of new purchasers , therefore , the third volume must be complete in i tself. And ,
accordingly, some repetitions will be observed , which the possessors of volumes first and
second are requested to excuse.
A large number of the books and documents quoted in this work can be consulted in the
l ibrary of the E nglish Presbyterian C ollege, Queen Square House, Guildford Street, London .
GE N E R AL VI E W OF T HE C O N T E N T S OF T HE
I N DEX -VOLUME .
PAG E S
AN ALYS IS OF H IST OR I C AL INT R ODUC T ION T O MEMO I R S R EFUGEES T HE R EIGN OF
LOU IS XIV.,
MEMOIR S OF R EFUGEES IN FOR MER R EIGNS , AN ALYS IS OF VOLUME FIR ST ,
. JALYS IS OF VOLUME SEC OND , Q DD IT ION AL C HAPT ER S , ALPHABET IC AL T ABLES ,
T ABLE OF N E W ME MOIR S AN D NOT E S.
FHE NAT UR ALISAT ION L IST S R E -C OPIED FR OM T HE PAT ENT R OLLS , WIT H NOT ES
, 2 7 to 7 1
Q OT E S T O HIST OR I C AL INT R ODUC T ION, 5 , 6 , 1 4, 1 6 , 1 7 , 1 8
, 1 9 , 7 2 , 7 5
VI E MOI R S OF R E FUGE E S IN FOR ME R R E IGNS , AN D T H E IR D E SC E NDANT S.
T HE R ADN '
OR GR OUP, E arl of R adnor and the families of Bouverie and Pusey. Bonnell. C rawley-Boevey.
Francis Lamot , or La Motte. Gleanings from Wills , 1 5 68 to 1 5 98. Houblon .
Da C ane. Le T hieu llier. Lefroy. De la Prym e. Janssen . Delme , &c.
I . T HE C LAN C AR T Y GR OUP , E arl of C lancarty, Lord Ashtown , and the family o f T rench. Odet de C hatillon .
Vidame of C hartres. Papillon . Dubois , o r Wood . C ham ber laine. Inglis , o r
Langlois . Le Jeune. D ’
’
I I . UN IVER S IT Y GR OUP ,
Le C hevalier. De Marsilliers . C ousin . Bignon . R egius. Baro, or Baron. C astol .
C asaubon . De Mayerne. Vignier. Levet. Lamie. Huard. De Lambermont.
De Garencieres . Vasson . C onyard. Da Moulin. D ’
E spagne. Herault, 85 0 .
V. A M ISC ELLANEOUS GR OUP , Waldo. Howie (see C hap . St Mi chel . Le Keu x . C onant. C alam y. De
Laune . Briot. D ’
R E V. S . LYON , C HAT ELAIN , &C .,
,
W ILL OF P H ILI P D E LAHAI ZE , E S Q .
, Proved 2 9 th N ovember 1 7 69 ,
M EMOI R S OF B I S HOP T E R R OT A N D R E V. V . P E R R ON E T ,
S I R FRAN C I S B EAUFOR T ,
R I C HAR D C H E N E VIX , T . G . FON N E R E AU , PR OFESSOR R IGAUD , J . R . PLAN C H 1§,
KENNEY , D.D .
, B . LANGLOIS , M.P .,
NOT ES, 1 5 2 , 1 5 4, 1 5 7 : 1 5 8: 1 63 , 1 6 5 , 1 67 , 1 69 , 1 7 0 : 1 7 1 : 1 7 2 7 1 85 , 1 8 7 ) I
ADD IT ION AL C HAPT E R S .
C HAPT ER XXX.
R EFUGEES , BE IN G C ONVER T S FR OM R OMAN ISM ,
B ion , De Brevall, C hailo t d ’ Argen teu il , Du Veil Ga m er De Luzamo
De la. F i l lonn iere, Le Vassor, &c , .
i g y , Mala
C HAPT ER XXXI .
DESC ENDANT S IN BR IT AIN OF HUGUENOT S WHO WE R E R E FUGE E S IN (ST HE R C OUNT R IES T hellu sson
, Labouchere, Prevost, Du Boulay, Fourdrinier, Maty, Aub ‘
ertin , &c
ADD IT IONAL FAC T S AN D NOT ES ,
ALPHABE T IC AL T ABL E S.
I . R EFUGEES OF EAR LIEST DAT ES, AN D T HEIR DESC ENDANT S ,
II . R EFUGEES DUR ING T H E R EIGN OF LOU IS XIV. , AN D T HEIR DE SC E N
I I I .
DAN T Q
A N ALY S I S O F VOLU M E F I R S T ,
W I T H N O T E S A N D D O C U M E N T S .
{Bistortcal E ntrohuction.
“
’
on w/zz '
cfi dr oveMe P r otes tan ts f r om Fr ance and if:
,
1 St. Bartholomew’s day 1 5 7 2 . Bu t I insert an abridgement of the remainder of Section I .
a I n order to understand the ju stification of civi l war in France at this period , we must con r some poin ts of difference from our views of law and loyalty
, belonging to the very
’
s only protection , the reader must picture a French Protestan t congregation ,
. J den to carry any arms , yet surrounded by R oman C atholics , armed with weapons wh ich
r ing priesthood stirs them up to use against the unarm ed worsh ippers , the law not . 1 g such murderous assaul ts with any punishment. I t must also be realised that i t was i stent with loyalty for a noble to have a fortress over wh ich the k ing had no active diction , and for a town such as La R ochelle to be equally independent of th e sovereign .
.. h a town , by feudal right, was as effectual a sanctuary against the king
’s emissaries as any resias tical building. I t was as lawless for the k ing to go to war with the town , as fo r th e
an invading army against Paris. T he independent rulers o f a fort or walled e duties to their own dependents
, to wh ich even the k ing’ s claims must be post
supreme authority o f a k ing over all town s and castles was a state of th ings wh ich King of France might wish : but i t was not the constitution of France ; and coveting was a species of radicalism on h i s part.
La R ochelle owed to their independence their escape from the St. Bar om ew massacre. T he Queen o f Navarre
, though decoyed to Paris , escaped by the v isi ta
o f God , who removed her from the evi l to come ,
” and to the heaven ly country , about
months before. A very great Huguenot soldier, second to none but C oligny, surv ived massacre , namely , Francois , Seigneur de la Noue. T h i s Francis with the Iron Arm
been Governor of La R ochelle. He was at Mons at the date of the massacre , but was ed
, and graciously received by the king. A ssuming that he would recant in return for h is
the C ourt sen t h im to La R ochelle to see if the citizens , on their l iberty o f conscience
g promised , would surrender to royal authority. La Noue , as an envoy
, was coldly re
Finding the citizens fi rm and courageous , he again accepted the ch i ef command in
stant interest , and the R oyalist besiegers withdrew in the summer of 1 5 7 3 .
ct , dated r 1 th August 1 5 7 3 , conceded to the Huguenots liberty of domestic worship public exercise of their religion in La R ochelle
, Montauban , and Nismes. T he
A
FR E N CH P R OT E S T A N T E XI L E S .
Government relieved its feelings of chagrin at such concessions by inventing , as t d esignation of F rench Protestantism for all time coming ,
th e con temptuous title , Pretend iie R eformée
,
”
(th e pretended reformed religion), or La Henry II I . succeeded C harles IX . in 1 5 7 4 , bu t h i s reign must here be passed
h e was assassinated in the camp near Paris in 1 5 89 , the Prote N avarre were in h i s army
, tak ing the loyal
‘
s ide against the rebell ious R oman C atho l l T he Papists con tinued the rebel lion , W i th a view to displace H enry of Navarre throne of France , wh ich was h i s rightful inheritance 3 and thus the Protestants , being loyal s ti ll , require no apologis t. I t i s alleged
, however, that by n ow becoming a party to a t reaty with the king
country , the Protestant C hurch of France assumed an imperial position wh ich no C
empire can tolerate , and that , therefore , the suppression of that C hu rch by Louis XIV.,
executed with indefensible cruel ty , was the dictate o f poli tical necessit y. T he reply to this allegation is , that th i s treaty was only th e re-enactment and
exten sion of a peculiar method of tolerating Protestants , devised by the k ings o the only plan to evade the necessi ty of being intolerant , wh ich the coronation them swear to be. T he plea that Protestants , as rehg l om sts , were to the King
, but were to be negotiated with like a foreign power, wa
tolerating them , consistent even with the m odified oath sworn by
endeavour , to the utmost of my power , and in good faith , to drive ou t of my jun sd 1 ct1 on
from the lands under my sway al l heretics denoun ced by the C hurch ” of R ome. As to
p olitical treaty with the Huguenots in i ts fi rst shape , Professor Anderson * rem
In stead of rel igious toleration being s ecured to them by a powerfully administered their protection was left in their own hands , as if there was someth ing in
creed wh ich must for ever render them in capab R oyalty
, wh ich planned the treaty, was at I
entered into the plan .
crime was consent to a royal programme , t o wh ich the successors of Henri IV. made themsel parties by deliberate and repeated declarations. T he treaty to wh ich we allude is celebrated E dict of Nantes
, dated 1 5 98, as a pledge of the observance of which the Protest
C hurch received several towns , w i th garrisons and ammunition , to be held and defended their own party in independent feudal style .
T hat th is was a poli tical eye-sore in a statesman-l ike view , i s now acknowledged. Bu t thal
was the last chance for religious peace and tolerance in France , cannot be denied on the otl
hand. And to say that i t was the cause of the Great Persecution would be a historical blund T he bigotry of the R oman C atholics was the cause . In the provinces persecution v
perpetual . I llegal treatment of individuals and congregations of the Protestan t party was ran punished wh i l e the local magistrate , instead of a protector, was often a leading persecu t T hrough priestly instigation and intimidation , the atmosphere of France was heated w uncontrollable and unextinguishable malignity against the Protestants
, who gained nothing
fightingwith truce-breakers. I t was in the reign of Henri ’s son ,
Louis XIII . , that figh ting in defence of 1 edictal rig]
’
s animus was against the feudalism as well as the Protestan tism of t cautionary towns . T he former was their special ofien siveness to the powerful Prime Minis of France
, C ardm al R ichelieu .
Introdu cto ry E ssay by William Anderson , Pr ofesso r in the Anderson ian Un iversity
, Glasgow (1 85 prefixed to h is translation o f “ Jean M igau lt ; o r the T rials o f a French Pro testant Fam il du rin th the R evocation o f the E d ict of Nantes.” y g e peu od
AN ALYSIS OF VOL UJ l/E FI R S T .
v
Another argument against Protestants resorting to civi l war, was that political malconten ts , igo ts of the R oman C atholic creed , often j oined their rank s , and gave a bad colour to their es ign s . Such a malcontent made advances to them ln 1 6 1 5
— viz. , the P rince of C ondé, who
the j ustly-honoured Protestant Henri , Due de R ohan , to take the field . Bu t their and best counsellor, the sainted Du Plessis Mornay, entreated h i s fellow-Protestants back. He said , T he C ourt wil l set on foot a negotiation
, wh ich wil l be carried on
Prince has gained his own ends , when he wi ll leave our churches in th e lurch and with all the odium. Such actually was the result. (Histoire des Protestants , par De
2 94 , zzz ’ e edi t.)
fall of La R ochelle and the other cautionary towns has been ascribed to the luke of the Huguenots themselves , i t may , with at least equal reason , be inferred that a principle in their inaction . T o exchange the appearance of feudal defiance for
lawful suggestion and experiment. Accordingly , not
s tay at home , but many of them served l n the royal s. And after the pacification of 1 62 9 , they rested all their hopes of religious liberty that monarch ’s satisfaction with their complete subj ection to royal j uri sdiction
, and
the very strong loyalty of their principles and manifestoes. During the minority of XIV.
, their fidelity and good services were acknowledged by the Premier of France ,
nal Mazarin , under whose administration they enj oyed much tranquility
, and by whose
they fi l led many important offices l n the financial department of h is Maj esty s
privilege rendering the E dict of Nantes theoretically dangerous , as inconsistent
ation , had no being after 1 62 9 . T he monarch who carried ou t the great and
on of the seventeenth century had no such materials wherewith to fabricate a
France was not devoted to the Pope ; and the liberties , which its Govern opposition to Papal ambition , migh t have made the King and h i s ministers Huguenots in their love of toleration . Unfortunately
, however
, the very
de i t al l the more willing was the one th ing wh ich
onement for al l insubordination .
also the father-confessors , whose powers of
te King and C ourt. Any apologies for th i s thorities had other motives than sheer bigotry
either untruthful harangues , or mere exercises of ingenuity, dealing not with phrases . was the revocation o f the E dict of Nantes— that i s
, the repeal of the law or
de by Henri IV. —a repeal which l eft Louis XIV. under the dominion of the fearful
his coronation -oath on the extermination of heretics . Unqualified and exaggerated ithou t the menacing safeguards of a treaty, was thus no defence to the Protestants . leges of the edict had
, during many years , been revoked one by one, fi rs t by explaining meaning of the phrases and clauses of that legal document , but latterly without any
estru ction o f the surviving sealing of Po ictou had been the scen e of T he Marquis de Louvois
, having
ascendency over Lou i s , was eager
,
l lowing entry in his diary
FREN CH PR OT E S T AN T E XI L E S .
T hey tell me the number o f Protestants wi thin the last twenty or th irty y increased here
, and does daily, notwithstanding their loss every day of
other.” T he dragoons changed th i s to a great extent in 1 68 1 . A t that da s iderable numbers came to E ngland , of whose reception I shall speak m a s I n 1 68 5 the dragoons bo s tupefied by th e tale or the a l ife of unguarded and u n
the E dict of R evocation. E very Huguenot, who de 5 1 red to con tm u e peaceably or worldly call ing
, was forced to declare himself a proselyte to the R om l sh rehg l o
qu irer with a view to such conversion . In the eye of the law they al l were -co
Protestantism , and were styled New C onverts , or N ew C atholics .
B ishop Burnet mentions the promise contained l n the E d l ct o f R evocatlon that all the public exercises o f the religion were now l iv No t on ly .the dragoons , but all the clergy and the bigots of France broi< e instances of rage and fury against such as d 1 d not change, upon their bem g r k ing’ s name to be of h i s religion (for that was the style everywhere). knew so many instances of their inj ustice and Vl olence, that 1 t exceeded what even been ima
g ined for all m en set their though ts on work to invent n ew methods of.o
all the town s through which I passed , I heard the most d ismal account of those thin One in the streets could have known the new converts, as they were
them , by a cloudy dej ection that appeared in thel r lo
vou red to mak e their escape, and were seized (for guards and secret whole roads and frontier of France), were , if men , condemned to to monasteries. T o complete th i s cruelty, orders were given that 5 did not at their death receive the sacramen t , sho uld be denied bu should be left where other dead carcases were cast ou t , to be devoured T hi s was execu ted in several p laces with the utmost barbari ty ; and i t gave al l people so m u
horror that it was let drop .
”
0
Bri tish C hri stians heard th e tidings with tears and forebod l ngs . John E velyn , ln hls D1 a under date 3d Nov . n otes , T he French persecution of the Protestants , raging with t
utmost barbarity, exceeded even what the very heathen s used . I was shewn l
t
harangue wh ich the B ishop of Valentia-on -R hone made in the name of the clergy, celebrati the French king as if he was a god for persecuting the poor Protes tants
, w ith this expressi
in it , T hat as his Victory over heresy was greater than all the conquests of A lexander a
C aesar , i t was but what was wished in E ngland ; and that God seemed to rais e the Fren
king to thi s power and magnanim ous action , that he might be in capacity to ass ist in doing t
same there.’ T his paragraph is very bold and remarkable . A few sentences in Lady Ru ssel l
’ s Leifer s give an affecting vi ew of those times , for instam
1 5 1 1 ; J an , 1 686.
—“ T he accounts from France are more and more astonishing the .p fecting the work i s vigorously pursued , and by this time completed,
’ti s thought, all , withc exception; having a day given them .
’ T is enough to sink the strongest heart to re
the accounts sent over. How the children are torn from their mothers and sent into m on .
teries , their mothers to another, the husband to prison or the galleys .”
Happily , three hundred thousand found refuge in E ngland
, in America
, in Holland
, Sweden , and R ussia. T hese (including the fugitiy
of 1 68 1 and some others) are the famous French R efugees. *
C om peten t scho lars have averred that m any clever essayists and wr iters of sm art political articles are ig i rant of h isto ry their fr iend s m u st fu rn ish them With facts , and their u ndertaking is to clothe the facts in wo r
I t is no t their bu siness to ascertain whether the facts ” are, o r are not , correctly stated . Hen ce we o ccasion s
m eet w ith lu d icrou s paragraphs , su ch as the following, wh ich m igh t be introdu ced into an E xam ination Pap to be co rrected by stu d iou s you th
T he Hugueno ts were long a persecu ted body in France. When they were m any and s trong, they strc
o regain their r ights by the sword when they were few and weak , by secret and patient m achination . T i
ANAL YS I S OF VOL UM E FI R S T ! 5
N O T E .
T he eloquence of the R ev. R obert Hal l found a stirring theme in the R evocation E dict. hough the poin ts on wh ich he fixed were almost the same on each of the two occasions wh ich he alluded to it
, both passages are worthy of quotation :
T he Gallican C hurch , no doubt, looked upon it as a signal triumph , when she prevailed on nth to repeal the edict of Nantes
, and to suppress the protestan t religion .
on sequence ? Where shall we look , after th is period, for her Fenelons and her the distinguished monuments of piety and learning wh ich were the glory of A s for piety
, she perceived she had no occasion for it, when there was no
christian holiness surrounding her ; nor for learning , when she had no longer any op to confute
, or any controversies to maintain . She fel t herself at liberty to become as
as secular, and as irreligious as she pleased and , amidst the silence and darkness
created around her , she drew the curtain s and retired to rest. T he accession of num
gained by suppressing her opponents was l ike the small extension o f length a body by death the feeble remains of l ife were extinguished and sh e lay a putrid corpse , a
fil ling the air with p estilential exhalations. — (Hall ’s Works
, 1 2mo
, vol.
,
riches into other countries. T he loss wh ich her trade and manufactures en t was
, no doubt
, prodigious. Bu t i t i s not in that view my subj ect leads
il l consequences of that step . She lost a people whose simple frugal m an
scientiou s piety were well adapted to stem the grow ing corruption of th e continual stimulus to awaken the exer had her Saurins
, her C laudes , her Da
d the genius of Bossuet and the virtues tal moment she put a period to the toleration of the protestants
, the
the abuses of the C hurch , the impiety of the people , met with no worst sort pervaded and ruined the nation . When the remote as of that edict
, which suppressed the protestants are taken into the ac
the careles s securi ty and growing corruption wh ich hung over the i t wil l not be though t too much to affi rm ,
that to that aeasu re may be traced the destruction of the monarchy and the ruin of the nation .
” — (Hall
, vo l . vi., p .
SEC T ION I I., (pages 8 to T be R efugees in tile R ag”: of E dwar d VI , E lz '
zabel/z , and
2m m l . , and Meir C /zu rc/zes . T his Section
, containing h istorical notes , begins with an ex
lanation that memoirs of refugees before the reign of Louis XIV. did not come with in the zope of my two volumes . In this new volume
, however
, Memoirs of R efugees in former
ign s will be found as a supplementary section , following the Analysis of the H istorical ntroduction .
T he reign of E dward VI . w i tnessed the founding of C hurches for Protestant R efugees. ohn
,
ley were wh ilst excluded ; they ceased to be so when restored to their natu ral station and function as citizens . hey were tw ice excluded and twice resto red , and at each tr ial the resu lt was the sam e ; u n til final ly a ju s t and
§
E d ict of N an tes
1 d cau sed her by doom ing her pro tes tan t subjects , so ld iers , artisans , and s tatesm en to exile, o r to d isgu s t and ienation at hom e.
”— A p lain s tatem en t in suppor t of UMP ol itical C laim s qf t/ie R om an in a Letter to re R ev . Sin Geo rge Lee, Bart., by Lord Nugent, M .P . fo r Aylesbu ry (London page 5 6 .
o FRENCH PR OT E ST AN T E XILE S .
a p p
m t . w .ment in 1 648 for a charter for a church, and w as
bishop C ranmer, the Duke o f Somerset, and Secretary C ec1 1 . B i shop L
cause in a sermon be was represented in a royal charter granted C hurch in Austin Friars ; at the end of the year the eh
Street (page 1 0 )was granted for worsh ip in the French language for from France Proper) and Walloons (R efugees from French Flanders). ters were Francois de la R iviere and R ichard Franoo is (page T h
dispersed these congregati ons . Protestan t rule returning wi th Queen E l izabeth
, the charters were restored
B ishop o f London , became the superintendent of th e C hurch es . U nder
of Parker, Archbishop of C anterbury, the celebrated refugee congregation , the C rypt of C anterbury C athedral, was founded (page T housands of refu over in th i s reign , especially from French Flanders in 1 5 6 7 and 1 5 68 , from 1 5 7 2 , after the Massacre, and in 1 5 8 5 . In the Pope’ s (Pius V .) Bul l of 1 5 7 0 ,
Protestant R efugees were characterized as om nz '
um but w ere defended by Bis J ewe l (page
N O T E S .
As to the planting of French C hurches throughout E ngland , I refer to two books ,
History of Foreign Protestant R efugees , and Sm iles ’
s Hugu enots. ale For the purpose of
tating this volume I have ransacked Strype ’
s numerous folios , and have
to them . Strype ’ s best documentary information is from the papers
great minister , Sir Wi ll iam C eci l , known as Mr Secretary C eci l ,
and after 1 5 7 2 as the Lord High T reasurer of E ngland.
In 1 5 62 the Queen was prevai led upon to send succour to the French Protestants . Nicholas T hrogmorton had interviews in France with T heodore Beza and conveyed to C 6 1 a letter from that famous divine
, dated at C aen 1 6 March 1 5 62 , (signed) T . de Belze.
l etter i s printed in Strype ’
s Annals of Queen E lizabeth , Secon d Appendix
, B .
, Vo l. I .
In 1 5 6 7 a Secret League was concocted among the Popish Potentates for the parti tion E urope among rulers attached to the C hurch of R ome (Mary , Queen of Scots, to receive tl E ngl i sh crown), and for the extirpation of Protestantism— the eleventh Article was to th
effect , “ E very man shall be commanded and holden to go to mass , and that on pain
excommunication , correction of the body, o r death , or (at the least) loss of goods , which g00 1
shall be parted and distributed amongst the principal lieutenants and , C aptains (Annals
Q . E l iz. , i. In 1 5 68 there was a great influx of refugees and an extensive founding
settlements for them throughout E ngland. Strype assures u s p . T h i s year fies fi sh
, wheat and other provision s bore a very cheap price and that wh ich gave a greater 1
mark to this favourable providence of God to the nation was , that this happened contrary all men ’s
w expectation s for all had feared , but a li tt le before , a great dearth. T his w:
esteemed Such considerable news in E ngland that Parkhurst , B i shop of Norwich
, in his cc
respondence with the divines of Helvetia, wrote i t to Gualter hi s friend , one of the chi ministers of Zurich , and added that he was persuaded , and so were others
, that thi s blessir
from God happened by reason o f th e godly exiles , who were hither fled for their religion , an
here kindly harboured whereby, in their strait circumstances , they m ight prov ide at a cheap
In the preface to m y second edition I did not m ention Mr Sm iles ’ s com pendiou s vo lum e, becau se th
popu lar au tho r was no t a predecessor. My fir st edition having appeared in 1 866 and h is work in 1 867 . Hm
ever , in that preface I declared m y obligation s to printed books , and in the pages of m y second ed ition
, Where was indebted to S izzz
'
les ’ s Hug uenots , I m ade a d istin ct note of the debt. As his in teresting com pilation em brao
al l the cen tu ries of Fren ch Protestantism , I shall be a l ittle m ore indebted to it in th is vo lu m e on accou n t of tl m em o irs of refugees before the reign of Lou is XIV.
, and specially to the third edition published in 1 870 .
ANAL YS IS OF VOL UM E FI R S T . l
elves and their fami lies . Strype complains of a m ixture of Anabaptists , and
criminal pe0p 1 e among those refugees , bu t adds , many (it must be acknow
very pious and sober, and some very learn ed too. Of their wants th is year ri g the bi shops and I find Bishop Jewel , May 3 , sending up to the
use of the poor exi les , for his part.”
unfavourable to the religion and morals es , the Government made a numerical and religious census of foreign residents . upplem en t to Annals, vo l . iv., No . 1 )the Lord Mayor
’s return of Strangers in 1 5 68
— begin 1 1 i1 1 g with these words : As to the number of strangers as wel l of London as in certain other liberties and exempt j uri sdictions adj oining nigh both of men
, women
, and ch i ldren o f every nation , as well denisons as not
their names , surnames
, and occupations— and what Houses be pestered with
rangers than hath of late been accustomed— and to whom they pay their 1 1 d how many of them do resort to any of the strangers ’ churches .” T he
(including 88 Scots)was 6 7 0 4 , of whom 880 were naturalized
, 1 8 1 5 were
no church .
French numbered 1 1 1 9 , (the other continental nations
9 1 0 were of the Dutch C hurch , 1 8 1 0 of the French
lom ew massacre, Sir Francis Walsingham was Queen to be a sanctuary
formally acknowledged , at the same time requesting an
the very truth ” regarding the massacre . ~T he m assacre Walsing mult ” and the late execution here ” ; C atherine De Medicis th e s the late accidents here.” Some garbled narratives were com and on the r s t September King C harles IX. sent for th e Ambassa h im . T he French C ourt wished it to be believed (as appears by
alsingham ’
s despatch of Sept. 1 3) that the French Protestants having been detected in a cret conspiracy, the massacre had been designed to remove th e ringleaders but now ,
the ads being taken away
, the meaner sort should enj oy (by virtue of the edicts)both lives and
o ds and liberty of their consciences.” T he very truth ” was first heard in E ngland from e mouth s o f the refugees ou r Queen rebuked the French Ambassador
, La Motte
, for h i s
lf—contradictory tales, in the most solemn strain . In December her Maj esty had an oppor
mi ty , wh ich she vigorously employed , to rebuke King C harles IX. h imself for that great
Lughter made in France of noblemen and gentlemen , unconvicted and untried
, so suddenly
,
was said , at his command , declaring her conv iction founded on evidence that the rigour
1 8 used only against them o f the R eligion R eformed , whether they were of any conspiracy
no .
” A nnals
, vol. i i. , p . 1 6 7) And in reply to h i s request that refugees migh t be
scou raged from settling in E ngland , our Queen instructed the E arl of Worcester, when in tris
, to say to the King , that she did not understand of any rebellion that the refugees were
e r privy to , and that she could perceive nothing but that they were well affected to their rince. Bu t when such common murdering and slaughter was made , throughout France , of ose w l1 0 ‘
professed the same rel igion , i t was natural for every m an to flee for h i s own defence , ad for the safety of h i s l ife. It was the privilege o f all realms to receive such woeful and iserable persons , as did flee to this realm only for defence of their l ives . As for their return France , the ch i efest of them had been spoken to
, and they made their answer
, - that the
m e rage of their enemies , wh ich made them first to flee hi ther , did sti l l continue the cause
their tarrying here , &c.
” Strype adds , T he better sort of the Queen ’
s subj ects were very 11 d unto these poor Protestants , and glad to see them retired unto more safety in th i s 1u 1 1 try ; but another sort (divers of the common people and rabble , too many of them) haved themselves otherwise towards these afflic ted strangers
, and would call them by 1 1 0
h er denomination but Fr m c/z dogx. T his a French author , sometime afterward
, took notice
8 FRENCH PR OT E S T AN T E XI LE S .
o f in print, to the d isparagement of the E nglish nation. But George Abbot, D.D. ,
Archbishop of C anterbury) in one of his morning lectures [ou Jonah] preached vindicating ou r kingdom from a charge that lay only upon some of the meaner and said
, T hose that were wise an
beaten , a sanctuary to the stranger, wherein he
the precise charge which God gave to the Israelit time once was when themselves w ere strangers in that other nations
, to their immortal praise, were
persecution in Queen Mary’s days .’
T he m ost remarkable proof which Queen E li upon her spirit by the St. Bartholomew massacre , bury to prepare special forms of prayer and to i ssue them by her royal authority. on 2 7 th October 1 5 7 2 , four prayers were publi shed and appointed to be used
(see S trype ’ s L ife of Archbishop Parker, page T he first was a prayer for
and Mercy the second , a prayer to be delivered from ou r enemies , taken ou t of
T he third was a prayer and thanksgiving in behalf of the Queen , for her own and preservation from al l deceits and violences of ou r enemies , and from all other evi ls
, both bodily and ghostly.” T he fourth was en ti tled,
O Lord ou r God and Heavenly Father, look down , we b m erciful countenance upon u s
tians as God , an Save them
,
prayers do call and cry un to thee for thy help and defence. Hear their cry , 0
prayers for them and for ourselves . Deliver those that be oppressed defend in fear of cruelty ; relieve them that be in misery, and comfort al l that be heaviness , that by thy aid and strength, they and we may obtain surety from w ithout shedding of C hristian and innocent blood. And for that
, O -Lord , thou hast corr.
m anded u s to pray for our enemies, we do beseech thee , no t only to abate their prid e and t «
stay the cruelty and fury of such as, either of malice or ignorance , do persecute them whicl
put their trust in thee , and hate us , but also to m ollify their hard hearts
, to Open their blin i
eyes , and to enlighten their ignorant m inds , that they may see and understand , and truly turi unto thee , and embrace that holy Word , and unfeignedly be converted unto thy Son Jesu C hrist the only Saviour of the world , and believe and love hi s Gospel , and so eternally b saved. Final ly, we beseech thee , that al l C hristian realms, and especially th is realm of E ng land , may, by thy defence and protection , enj oy perfect peace , quietness and security, and ai
that desire to be called and accounted C hristians , may answer in deed and l ife unto so goo «
and god lya name, and j ointly, all together, in one godly concord and unity , and w i th on
'
o l lowm g paragraph from the L ij é of B er nar d Gz '
lpz ’
n , chap. 3 z— 1 5 5 4. While he stayed in the Lox
C ou n t r 1 es , he was greatly affected by the m elancho ly sight of crowd s of h is dejected countrym en ar riving dail m tho se.parts, from .
the bloody scene then acting in E ngland . T hese u nhappy exiles , however
, soon recoveren
thei r sp 1 r 1 ts, and , d 1 5 pers 1 ng into variou s town s, cheerfu lly applied them selves , each as h is profession led to gaii an hones t hvehhood . T he m eaner sort exer cised their crafts ; the learned taught schoo ls , read lecttires an t
co r rected Presses— at Bas 1 l partl cu lar ly, where the ingen iou s Operinu s was then carrying pr inting to great ,
perfection .
.
l he1 r com m endable endeavou rs , to m ake them selves not qu ite a bu rden to those who enter tained them were su l tably rewarded. T he sey eral towns of Germ any and Ho lland
, finding their advan tage in these strangers
,
the ,
E nglish a S trasbu rg and Frankfort shou ld never ass unrem em bered where these th in n 1
C ollins ’ ed ition , page p g s are m entioned . Gl lp l fl J
‘ L gfé
AN AL YS I S OF VOL UM E
may render unto thee al l laud and praise continually , magnifying
h thy Son our Saviour j esus C hri s t, and the Holy Ghost , art one most merciful God
, to whom be all laud and praise
, w orld without
took a deep interes t in the R efugees . Among h i s papers was found the
dum , which I copy in modernized spelling (see Strype
’
,
ssacre at Paris , Protestants fly into E ngland , whereof a brief account was
0 R ye from R ouen and D ieppe . Soon after that massacre came
ppe to R ye 64 1 persons , m en , women
, and ch i ldren — families 8 5 .
times in the months of August and September, and some few in
August somewhat before the massacre . Besides in the and 9th days , 5 8 persons more , most of them for t e
several , Monsieur Le Vidame of C hartres ’s servants . T he v iew was taken of these
and other strangers , with in the town of R ye by the appointment of Henry Seymer,
of that town , and the j urats there . j ohn Donning , C ustos o f R ye, sent up the
ue , Nov. the 2 2nd, to the Lord T reasurer, according to order sent to h im . In th i s
ue are the names of divers en titled ministers , clerks
, schoolmasters ; many merchants ,
r of the town of Stamford , and through h i s enligh t
th i s year , to consis t of “
estrau ngers beinge for R eligion of C hriste j hesu ,
fiedde into her Grace ’
s theire to keep theyre R esidence .” T heir spokes
min ister , and C asper Vos lw '
g z '
u r ; the colony consisted of manu u t lers , dyers , and other industrial peopl e . Strype in 1 7 1 1 says , (i manufacture con tinued a great wh i le in Stamford , but now i s
ffect vanished. In the Hall , where they used to meet for their business , the town feasts
”
s Life o f Parker ,
” page and Appendix Nos. 7 2 and T he date of the horrible “ sack ing of Antwerp was the beginning of November 1 5 7 6 .
Spaniards stripped all merchants , native and foreign , and massacred Walloons indiscr im in
‘
ered to fly in to E ng l, ” accord ing to information sent to the E arl o f Sussex , by h is brother, the Hon . Henry c lyff, from Portsmouth January 1 5 th , 1 5 7 6 [P- 1 5 7 7 , new s ty le] . T h i s information
, wh ich
’
s Annals of E l izabeth , vo l . i i . , page 40 6 .
During all these years unti l 1 5 88 plots were hatch ing for the overthrow of Protestan t land and the dethronement of E l izabeth . T he year 1 5 88 i s the date o f the destruction of Spanish Armada. T he danger and deliverance belonged equally to all Protestants in the 1 d
, whether natives or strangers . I t is therefore disappointing to find that some members
Ou t o f gr atitude to the E nglish Governm en t , a Hugu eno t R efugee nam ed Ber trand , Seig neu r de La T ou r ,
info rm at ion (dated at Spaa, near Aix - la-C hapel le, 1 1 th Aug . 1 5 73) o f a Fo reign C on spiracy again s t Queen
Lheth . I t was fo rwarded to Lo rd Bu rghley by S ir \Vil l iam B rom field , an o fficer o f Her Majes ty ’s Guard s
, to
n the com m u n ication had been m ade in p resence o f S tephen Bochart , Seigneu r Du Men illet. T he Seigneu r .a T o u r descr ibed h im self as one bou nd 0 1 1 m any accou n ts to the m ost illu striou s Qu een o f the E ngl ish , 0 1 1 li nt o f her ho spital ity shew n to al l the refugees from France fo r the \Vo rd o f God ,
and esteem ing the benefits rred by Her Majes ty u pon al l the brethren pro fes s ing the sam e religion ,
to be com m on to h im and to al l the
eh exiles in Germ any o r in any o ther par t o f the w o rld , ”
[dev inctu s m u ltis nom in ibu s il lus tr is s im re R eginae lo ru m propter hosp ital itatem exh ibitam o m nibu s p rofug is ‘
ex Gall ia propter Verbu m Dei , ex is tim ans bene
a suaMajes tate co llata om n ibu s F ratr ibu s eandcm rel ig ionem p rofiten t ibu s , s ibi et om n ibu s E xu hbu s Gall is , erm an ia
’
s Life of Parker , end ix
, N o . 9 1 fo r an abs trac t in E ngl ish , see h is Annals of E lizabeth , vo l . ii. , page 2 5 4.
B
1 0 FREN CH PR OT E S T A N T E XI L E S .
~
equi ty. T he E nglish shopkeepers were willing to allow the foreign refugees to m anu factt
goods and to supply them wholesale but they were bent upon shutting up the retal l-shops all foreigners.
T he Burgh l ey Papers (see Strype , vo l . i i i., page 5 43 , and Appendix, No . 5 9) preserve t substance o f a speech on the right side of the question , which (as the wrong side at other tirr has produced so much discreditable li terature), I copy in full, premising that the hon ou ral member to whom it was a reply had j ust fin ished his contribut ion to the debate by affirm i the maxim
, that we obey every precept of charity by a patriotic and exclusive affection to c
'
'
m l S fr aflger s and A l iens Sel l ing by R etail . T his Bi l l
, as I conceive
, offereth to the consideration of this hon ourabl e House
controversy between the natural born subj ec t of th i s realm , and a stranger inhabiting am o
u s . Surely , before I proceed any further
, I find myself doubly affected and doubly distract <
For , on the one side , the very name of my country and nation is so p leasant in mine ears a
’
complexa est. Insomuch that in thi s case, wherein '
m y country is a part, and especially t] part of my country [London ] which as i t i s the head of the body; so ought i t by me to be 1 m honoured and loved
, m ethinks I might needs j udge myself to be no competent j udge in t
cause. But on the other s ide , in the person of the stranger
, I consider the miserable a
afflicted s tate of these poor exi les , who
, together with their countries have los t al l (or 1
~
pau cos am icos). In these respects I am moved with an ext
ordinary commiseration of them , and feel in myself a sympathy and fel low-
,
i s nothing but as I am in tended here to be, which is m ore than I can be , though no
than I ought to be, as in the place of a j udge. In every cause i t i s the part of the to hun t after the truth, to thrust affection off, to open the door to r j udgment with respect to the matters in hand and w i thout respect of persons in cansis verum sequ i, seponere affectum ,
adm ittere rationem , ex rebus ip sis non ex p
And therefore I pray you that I may lay before you my judgment in the matter , as declared m y affection to the parties . T he bill requireth that i t be enacted that no born , being neither denizens nor having served as apprentices by the space of seven should sel l any wares by retail.
0
Because i t i s required that this be made a law , let u s consider how i t m ay stan
w 1 th the fi grou nds and foundation s of al l laws (which are the laws of nature and the
God), and secondly , with the profit and commodity o f the commonwealth. I wil l not detain you w i th mathematical o r phi losophical d i scourses concerning th
and m an and man ’
s residence thereon . T he whole earth , being but a point
the wo r ld , w i l l admit no division of dominions p zma ‘
u m est
1 5 no earthly, but a heaven ly creature , and therefore hath capu t m fl guam T heresidence or con tinuence of one nation in one place is n ot of the (bem g in i tself immutable)would admit no t 1 1 at 1 on s . Bu t I will propound unto you two grounds of n ature
, as more
One IS that we should give to others the same m easure that we wou which i s the golden ru le o f j ustice
, and the other i s that we ought
T he o rator seem s to have paid h is audien ce the com plim ent of leaving the Lat Perhaps the transcr iber ought to apologize to h is readers for occasionally interpo lating a translation .
than our nation v
.
if fi rst be true that they do indeed sell better pennyworths , then we have n o cause to pu n l sh to cherish them as good members of our commonwealth, which by no means can be be enriched than by keeping down the prices of foreign com m od 1 t 1 es , and our own . Besides , the benefi t of cheapness of foreign com m od l t l es by benefit of dear prices , by how much the n umber of buyers of sel lers
, wh ich is infin ite. Bu t if the second be true , that if is
sol! l/zez ’
r zoom s ooffor c/zoup than our nation doth , then surely I cannot but think 1 t very injustice to punish them for a fault committed by u s .
It hath been further obj ected unto them in this house , that by their sparing and l iving
, they have been the better enabled to sel l goodpennyworths . I t seems we are
straitened for arguments , when we are driven to accuse them for their virtues.
From the defeat . of the bill, in opposition to Which the above speech was del i Strype j ustly infers
, the hearty love and hospi table spiri t which the nation had for
afflicted people of the same religion with ourselves.” Not on ly was this bi l l refused reading
, but the same fate happened to another
, which proposed that the children of
should pay strangers ’ customs. T hus the late Archbishop Parker’ s maxim (he d i ed in 1
s ti ll adhered to , profitable and gentle strangers ought to be welcome and not to be
at. (See Strype ’
s L ife of Parker, p .
I t will be observed that al l that the refugees sought an ing their own l ivelihood . T hey suffered none of their pe their own poor
, a large portion of their congregational
And so grand and resolute was their determination in th '
a time of war made their trade low and their cash l ittle , their London consistory (or vestry,
the E ngli sh would have said) actually borrowed money to enable them to m aintain th
’
s desire that his congregation should contribute to the fund i raising an E nglish Force to assist King Henry of N avarre
, and to defeat the rebell ion agair
him as the legitimate King of France. C astel ’s letter in answer to the Archbishop of C ant i
bury was dated 1 9th December 1 5 9 1 (it was in Latin and is printed in the life o f Whitgi Appendix (No . 1 3) to book 4th
— Strype also alludes to i t in the body of the life , p . 3 8
and in annals of E lizabeth , vo l . iv. p . T h i s letter states other interesting facts. T h <
gentlemen had gone over to France in the hope of being repossessed of their estates. T .
ablebodied m en had j oined King Henry’s army , and their travell ing expenses had been pai
the 1 r wives and children being left to the charity of the church . T he congregation had al
been always ready to mak e collections for their brethren in other places , and had respond
to such appeals from Montpel lier , Norwich
, Antwerp
, Ostend , Wesel, Geneva, 69°C .
Havm g failed to put down refugee retailers by Act of Parliament , some Londoners attempt to gain this end by threats of rioting. In May 1 5 7 3 they surreptitiously issued this warnin Doth not the world see that you beastly brutes the Belgian s
, o r rather drunken drones ai
faint-hearted Flemings , and you fraudulent Father-Frenchmen, by your coward ly flight fro your own natural countries , have abandoned the same into the hands of your proud coward e1 1 en1 1 es
, and have , by a feigned hypocrisy and counterfei t show of religion
, placed y0 1
selves here m a most ferti le soil , under a most gracious and merci ful prince who hath bei
contented , to the great prej udice of her natural subj ects , to suffer you to live here in bett
case and m o re freedom than her own people. Be 1 t known to all Flemings and Frenchm en that i t i s best for them to depart out of t
realm of E ngland between this and the oth o f July next ; i f not , then to take that which fl lows . T here shal l be many a sore strip e. Apprentices will rise to the num ber of 2 33 A 1 1 1 1 all the Apprentices and J ourneymen wi ll down with the Flemings and strangers.”
ANAL 1 7 5 1 5 OF VOL UM E FI R S T . 1 3
equal merit with this miserable prose were some verses stuck up upon the wall of the tch C hurch-yard on T hursday nigh t, 5 th May 1 5 93
You strangers that inhabit in this land ! No te th is sam e writing
, do it u nderstand
C onceive it w ell, for safety of you r lives , You r goods , you r ch ild ren , and you r dearest wives .
&c. , &c.
, &c . , &c.
By order of the Government, the Lord-Mayor and A ldermen of London quietly arranged some merchants and master-tradesmen to act as special constables. And some appren and servants who were found behaving riotous ly were put into the stocks
, carted
, and
London forbidding the strangers , both Dutch and French
, to exercise
Bu t i t soon appeared that the C hri stian hospitality of our Queen and not died . By an order m council , dated Greenwich , 2 9 th Apri l 1 5 99 , Lord Mayor to forbear to go forward. T he order was signed by
erbu ry (Wh i tgift), the Lord Keeper (E gerton), the Lord Admiral (Lord by Lords North and Buckhurst
, by the C ontroller of the Household
by the Secretary of State (Sir R obert C ecil , younger son of Lord nd heir of his abilities), and by the C hancel lor o f the E xchequer (Sir John
petty persecution was similarly stopped in 1 60 1 . Sir Noel de C aron memorial een on behalf of several refugee tradesmen whose cases had been brought up by Lord Buckhurst
, who had succeeded to the othee of Lord H igh T reasurer , wrote
Me House 3 l s t October 1 60 1 , directing the A ttorn ey-General (C oke) to quash all st the strangers
, the matter being under investigation by th e Privy C ounci l .
T
he documents described in th i s and the preceding paragraph are printed in S trypo ’ s Au ua/s
vo l . i v., pp . 3 5 2
Strype gives a quotation from Lo m bar d”: Param ou/o tz '
ou of Ke nt , denouncing the inveterate
‘
Cl begins by recall ing “ what great tragedies have been stirred in th i s realm by th is our i tu ral inhospitality and disdain of strangers , both in th e time of King John , Henry h is son , ing E dward II ., King Henry VI ., and in the day s of later memory .
” He then declares h i s 1 pe, whatsoever note of infamy we have heretofore contracted among foreign writers by is our feroci ty against aliens
, that now at the last
, having the light of the Gospel before ou r
fes , and the persecuted parts [members P] of the afflicted church as guests and strangers in
i r country , we shall so behave ourselves towards them as we may utterly rub out the old
em ish .
”
Died on the 2 4th March 1 60 3 Queen E l izabeth , who
, having at her coming to the
“
own , promised to maintain the truth o f God and to deface superstition , with th i s beginning
ith un iformity continued , yielding h er land
, as a sanctuary to al l the world groaning for
berty of their religion , flou rishing in wealth, honour , estimation every way (I borrow the
n guage of Archbishop Abbot, quoted in S trype ’
r A u uo/s , vo l . iv., page
(Pave 1 T h is section concludes with a short reference to King James I . Professor Weiss ves a sentence of h i s friendly letter to the London French C hurch. T he King obtained an
Ju ivalen t in 1 60 6 from some French ministers , who wrote a letter of remonstrance to the
np risoned Presbyterian ministers in Scotland . T he signatures in the Latin language were obertu s Masso Fon ta1 1 u s
, Aaron C appel
’
s s lo/y supplies the nd isgu ised names , R obert I e Macon , styled De la Fontaine ; Aaron C appel , Nathaniel [aria ]
1 4 FRENCH PR OT E S T AN T E XIL E S .
N O T E S .
Besides the letter to the French C hurch , King James wrote another French letter, which I quote from Strype (Auuo/s
, vo l. iv., page It was addressed to the Dutch R efugee C hurch M E SS I E U R s
, — E ncore que vous me n ’
ayez vu ju squ ’
apresent , s i est-ce que je ne vou s suis
point étranger n i inconnu. Vous savez quan t ama religion quel je suis, non seulement par le brui t que vous avez pu entendre de moi, mais aussi par mes écrits en l esquel s j
’ai veritable m ent exprimé quel est l ’afl
'
ection de m on am e. C ’est pourquoi j e n
’ai besoin d ’user de beaucoup de paroles pour vous represen ter ma bonne volonté envers vous
, qui etes ici refugies pour la
religion .
Je reconnois que deux choses on t rendu la R eine , ma Soeur défun te , renommée par tout le m onde. L
’une est le désir, qu ’el le a touj ours eu
, d
’
en treten ir et fomenter le Service de Dieu en ce royaume. E t l ’autre es t son hospitalité envers les étrangers— a 1a louange de la quelle je veux hériter.
Je sais bien , par le tem oignage des Seigneurs de ce royaume (comme vous m ’
avez dit), que vous avez touj ours prié Dieu pour elle
, et que vous n
, que vous avez enrichi ce royaume de p lusieurs artifices
, m anufactures
, et sciences
’
etois encore éloigné comme en un coin du monde ,
je vous eusse fait paroitre m a bonne affection . Mais comme je n ’
’
,
je vous vengerai . E t encore , quoique vous n e soyez pas de mes propres Suj ets , s i es t-ce que
je vous main tiendrai et fomenterai , autant que Prince qui soit au monde. ”
We now lose the assi stance of Strype , but a valuable auxi liary succeeds him . T he C am
den Society volume entitled L i sts of Foreign Protestants and A l iens res ident in E ngland 1 6 1 8- 1 688
, edited by Wm . Durrant C 00per, F i s prefaced with useful informa
tion by the ed itor. Lord T reasurer Buckhurst n ow appears in his new title o f E arl of Dorset ,
and Secretary Sir R obert C eci l has been raised '
to the peerage as E arl of Sali sbury. T he
London C ompanies of weavers , cutlers, goldsmiths , &c. , s o much esteemed for their feasts
”
In July 1 6 1 5 the Weaver ’s C ompany urged that the strangers employed more workmen
than were al lowed by statute, and then concealed them when search was made— that they lived m ore cheaply and therefore sold more cheaply than the E nglish— that they imported si lk lace contrary to law 81 0. In 1 62 1 a longer plaint survives [the orig inal spelling may be seen in Durrant C ooper 5 Introduction , page v.] T heir chiefest cause of entertainment here of late was in charity t8 shroud them from persecution for religion and , being here , their necessi ty became the mother of their ingenuity in devis ing many trades , before to u s unknown. T he
State , n oting their di ligence, and yet preventing the future inconvenience , enacted two special
laws , T HAT T HEY SHOULD ENT ER T AIN E NGLI SH APPR ENT I C ES AN D SER VANT S T O LEAR N T HESE T R AD E s— the neglect whereof giveth them advantage to keep their mysteries to themselves , which hath made them bold of late to devise engines for working o f tape, lace , ribbon , and such
, wherein one man doth more among them than seven E nglishmen can do so as their
cheap sale of those commodities beggareth all our E nglish ar tificers of that trade and enricheth them. Since the making of the last statute they are thought to be increased ten for one, so as no tenement i s left to an E ngli sh artificer to inhabit in divers parts of the city and
suburbs , but they take them over their heads at a great rate. So their numbers causeth th e
enhancing of the price of Victuals and house ren ts , and much furthereth the late (l l SOl‘ derly
AN AL YS J S OF VOLUME FI R S T .
.
”
was imposed upon baize as upon cloth exported. Lord Dorset seems to have been inclined to discourage further immigration
, on the plea that foreign perse
cu tion s had ceased. T hat noble Lord died in 1 60 8 , and Salisbury, who succeeded h im as
Lord High T reasurer, died in 1 6 1 2 . T he complaints made against refugees in 1 6 1 5 and 1 62 1 were each responded to by the tak ing of a census , one in 1 6 1 8 and another in 1 62 1 . T he l ists col lected in 1 6 1 8 are printed in the appendix to the C amden Society volume
, and the
l ists of 1 62 1 in the body of the volume , pp . 1 to 2 6. T hese lists rather inj ured the case of the complainants by revealing that they had exaggerated the number of foreigners and over stated the proportion between foreign and native tradesmen . On the 3o th July 1 62 1 a Board o f R oyal C ommissioners was appoin ted to consider the laws affecting aliens, and to propound regulation s for the liberty of then wholesale merchants and for enforcing the restrictions upon retailers . On 7 th September 1 62 2 (says Mr C ooper) the C ommissioners ordered that
, as the
retailing of E nglish goods by strangers was hurtfu l to home trade , all strangers selling to
strangers E nglish goods should pay half the duty on such commodities as would be paid for custom on export , &c.
.
the people , however desirable they might appear to the chartered companies.” — (Introduction , page x.)
SEC T ION T H IR D (extending from p . 1 2 to p . 2 1 ) i s entitled T ue C onnection of Frouofz
P rotestants wit}; E ug lz '
s/z P ol itics in t/ze tim es of Cbar ley au o ’ C r om wel l . C harles
, who
ascended the British throne on March 24th 1 62 5 , was , as af u r : D z ’
w ’
uo prelatist and potentate, rather unfriendly to Foreign Protestants. T he ambi tion of h is father and h imself had led them to court princes of the R omanist creed , with a view to a matrimonial alliance and , on
,
wh i le as an E nglish King he could not deliberately change the national friendship for them hence h i s procedure was fickle. He pleased them , however, in Novem ber 1 62 6
, by an
official recognition of , the existing immunities of the Foreign Protestants and their children , basing h is order upon a sense of grati tude for the honourable reception and substantial bounties accorded to Bri tish subj ects and their ch i ldren beyond the seas .
(Page In 1 633 the elevation of Laud to the rank of Archbishop of C anterbury was th e seed o f serious d ivision between C harles and the Huguenots . Laud was forward to declare the true brotherhood o f the C hurch of R ome
, and to change the official language of
the E nglish nation wh ich had called the Protestant religion the true religion.
” He i ssued injunctions to French refugee churches requiring E nglish natives to be removed to the E ng l i sh parish churches (the children of refugees being included by h im among born E nglishmen), and commanding that the E nglish L i turgy (translated) should be used by the refugee churches , (the French translation , then ex i s tent , i s described in my vol . i., p . I have printed the remonstrance and petition of the Norw ich congregations , and an extract from Laud ’s per emptory reply
, as given by Prynne
’
s reference to a book about those proceedings by the pastor
, John Bu l teel of C anterbury
, enti tled
, A R elation of the T roubles of the T hree
Fo rraigne C hurches in Kent. ”
(Page T he king having provoked a civi l war , the E nglish Parliament, enacted the
abolition of E piscopacy , the measure to become law on the 5 th Novem ber 1 643 . T he Lords
and C ommons , with a view to the establishment of a British C hurch , summoned the West minster Assembly of Divines wh ich met in Henry VI I .’s chapel on I st j uly 1 643 and held eleven hundred and sixty three meetings . T he R ev . John de la March of Guernsey acted as spokesm an for the French ministers and their people. On 2 2nd Novem ber the Parliament
ordered that a Latin letter be addressed by the Assembly to the reformed churches abroad 5 the let ter was s igned on 1 9
-2 9 Jan uary 1 644 , one copy being addressed to the pastors and elders of the church of Paris .
(Page On the 1 3 th March , Mr De la March reported , that the letter to Paris had
been handed unopened to the Deputy-General of the Protestan t C hurch es o f France , and
could not be opened because of the royal prohibition of correspondence with E ngland relative to existen t disputes. By order of Parliament, therefore , the letter was printed.
N O T E .
Mr Grosart, in his in teresting memoir of Herbert Palmer , B.D . , calls atten tion to the fact
that that loveable and able divin e drafted the Westminster Assembly’s L etter. A s to Palmer, Samuel C lark says , that he was born at Wingham ,
about six miles from C anterbury , in 1 60 1 5 he learned the Fren ch tongue almost as soon as he could speak E nglish even so soon , as that he hath often affirm ed he did no t remember h i s Ieam ing of it. An d he did afterwards attain so great exactness of speaking and preaching in that language, together with a perfect knowledge of the state of affairs of that kingdom (especially of the Protestant C hurches amongst them) that he was often by strangers thought to be a native Frenchm an , and did no t
doubt but to entertain discourse w i th any person of that nation forisom e hours together, who should n ot be able by his d i scourse to distinguish him from a n ative Frenchman ,
but j udge h im to be born and bred in France so well was he furnished with an exact knowledge
, both
o f the propriety and due pronunciation of that language , and of the persons , places
, and
affairs of that kingdom and the churches therein ; a thing not often seen in on e who had never been ou t of E ngland . Before hi s death in 1 64 7 he testified the affection s of his heart by praying aloud for himself and others one of th e petitions was
, Lord do good to Scot
land and the churches of France bless N ew E ngland and foreign plantation s.”
Principal Baill i e in one of his famous L etters ” (vo l . i i . , p . 1 1 1 )writes , T he Parliamen t became the other day sen sible of their too long n eglect of writing to the churches abroad o f
their condition so i t was the matter of ou r great committee to draw up letters in the name of the Assembly for the Protestant C hurches . T he drawing o f them was committed to Mr
Palmer , who yet i s upon them ”
(7 th December T he i nscription s were ‘many
, but i t
was one and the same letter that was transcribed and sent '
to the various churches . T here was no continuous exchange of correspondence ,
so Bail li e has occasion to say , when a cor
respondent desired that a favourable letter s ent in return from the Zeland” church should be answered by the [Westmin ster] A ssembly ; as for return ing an an swer
, they have no power
,
”
Bail l ie hoped that some of the Huguenot Divines would help them by private letters . He
said in 1 644 (Letters, vo l . i i., p. 1 80) T here is a golden occasion in hand , i f improved
, to get
E ngland conform in worship and governm en t to the rest o f the reformed . If nothing dare be written in public by any of the French, see if they w i l l write their mind for ou r encouragement, to any private frien d here or in Holland .
” He was rather o u t o f humour with the Parisian Divines — However (he writes) the French Divines dar e not keep public correspondence, and I hear that the ch i ef of them are so much courtiers that they w il l q [say] the half they dare and might policy and prudence so far keeps down their charity and zeal
, &c.
, 81 0 . (Letters, vo l . p . However
, in the end of 1 644 he was better pleased (see his vol . p . 2 5 3) and
writes , I t were good that ou r friends at Paris were made to understand ou r hearty and very kind resentmen t of their demonstration of zeal and affection towards the common cause of al l the reformed churches now in our poor weak hands .”
AN AL YS I S OF VOL UME FI R S T . 1 7
(Page T he execution of King C harles I . on the scaffold greatly lessened the sympathy between the Huguenots and the E nglish people. T he most celebrated writers against that
d eed were French Protestan ts .
(Page C laudius Salm asius was C laude Saum aise. Petrus Mol inaeu s was Peter Du
Moulin, D.D. Oi h im and of Brevin t I shal l speak in the supplementary section of memoirs .
On ly I mus t here warn my readers against the R ev. John Durel , as being neither a Huguenot
nor an impartial looker-oh .
(P age T he s entiments entertained by indiv idual Huguenots regarding the E ngli sh broils vari ed
, each individual depending for h i s information upon different E nglish friends
o r correspond .ents Da Bosc ’s biographer thought that al l Huguenots were on the side of the ti tular C harles I I ., and of his brother the Duke of York— wh i le the Duke of York h im self thought they were al l on the side of C romwel l , as B i shop Burnet informs u s .
T he fact was , that as C harles I . had damaged his influence by leaning on a R oman C atholic Archbishop , so C romwell rose in estimation through h i s beneficence to poor Protes tant people. T he R epublican Protector was courted by C ardinal Mazarin , and on the other side by the Prince o f C ondé who proposed to j oin h im in a Spanish A ll iance. C rom well sent Jean Baptist Stouppe, one of the pasteurs of the C i ty of London French C hurch , into France to consult the Huguenot population
, and it was ascertained that the
Protestants d isapproved of C ondé ’
s proj ects. E ngland therefore accepted the French A l liance .
(Page Here I give the two memor able intervention s of C romwell with Mazarin in behalf of persecuted Protestants
, and conclude by g iving Anthony a-Wood
'
s account of French Protestants incorporated into Oxford Universi ty during the period embraced in th i s section .
T hese shall be transferred into the supplementary section .
N O T E .
I have said of Pasteur Stouppe he was a native of the Grisons , and at heart more a lay
man than a pastor , as he ultimately proved , by becoming a Brigadier in the French army .
I wish to note what can be said in extenuation of hi s conduct. From information lately obtain ed , I must acqui t h im of the suspicion of having abjured Protestantism in order to be
qualified for the army. At the restoration of C harles I I . he could not stay in London , th e
royalists being furious against him for having acted as a d iplomatist under C romwell . He
hoped to preach in C anterbury unmolested , but was followed to that retreat. Among the
records of the French C hurch o f C anterbury Mr Burn found a document thus described :
28th August 1 66 1 . T he k ing’s letter requiring the church not to admit or use M r Stoup as minister, but give h im to understand he is no t to return to th i s k ingdom ,
he being a known agent and a common intelligencer of the late usurpers .” During the early campaigns of the Williamite war in Flanders
, he was colonel of a regiment of Swiss Auxiliaries in the French
’
,
who had the regiment after h im , was a R oman C atholic
, and had turned out the minister that
’
s History of the C ampagne in the Spanish Netherlands
, A.D. 1 694, P age
Section IV. (pp . 2 1 , 2 2
, 2 3) i s enti tled T fie C or r ospouo
’ ouoo of Mo F r ozu /lzP r otestan ts trrzt/z
E ug luuo ’ zu t/ze tu neof C ou r ier T here were two occasions 0 1 1 wh ich some of th e Huguenot
Pasteurs complied with the request of E nglish friends to fortify them with letters . (Page T he firs t occasion was the restoration of the younger C harles as King C harles
I I . If C romwell had accepted the Spanish A l liance , the brothers C harles and James wou ld
have fraternized with the French Protestants , and might perhaps have led them into E ngland 1 1 1
FR E N CH P R OT E S T AN T E X '
JL E S .
‘
’
Angle. Drelincou rt ’
5 letter was to Stouppe that from Gaches was addressed to R ichard Baxter at the request of their mutual friend
, Anna Mackenzi e , C oun tess of Balcarres. Many letters
, hosti le to the nonconformists ,
having been despatched from E ngland into France , an Apology for the Puri tan s of E ngland
was published in the French language at Geneva in 1 663 ; the author was R ev. T homas Hall
, B.D.
(Page T he second occasion was when Stillingfleet was printing a prelatical book en
t i tled T he Unreasonableness o f Separation .
” A few formal question s were put in circula
t ion abroad , and an swers received from Mess ieurs Le Moyn e , De l ’
Angle, and C laude (all dated in 1 680)w ere printed .
N O T E .
With regard to the letters of 1 680 , I make the follow ing extract from An Historical Ac
count of my own L ife , 1 6 7 1 1 7 3 1 by E dmun d C alam y , D.D . , imprin ted and edited by John
T owil l R utt m 1 82 9 , 2 vols ‘
. In C alam y ’s I st vol ., p . 1 7 3 , he says , Dr Frederick Spanheim ,
(born 1 63 2 , died the son of Frederick , i s acknowledged to have written as well and to
as good a purpose , upon E cclesiastical History
, as any one that has appeared in the Protestan t
C hurches. T his Dr Spanheim was one of those divines to whom the Bishop of Lon
don [C ompton] wrote , for his sentiments about the E stablished C hurch of E ngland and C on formi ty to it
, at the very same time that he wrote to Mon sieur Le Moyne and Mon sieur de
l ’
’
s answer was not printed among the rest , n o t being thought
enough in favour of the C hurch o f E ngland. Le Moyne was a great and learned n1 an . . I cannot help upon this occasion recollecting a passage of a worthy E nglish Divine
, who was speaking of a letter of this Monsieur le Moyne , relating to our contests here
in E ngland , of which he had made much use. He says that he fuul cer ium know ledge t/uu
‘ M lo M oy ne uoo
’
oolu m m kz ’
'
u
’
’
u sor teo ’
'
s (loszlgu . (Bonasus Vapu lans
, or some C astigations given to Mr j ohn Durell, &c . , p .
SEC T ION V. (which extends from page 24 to page 2 9) i s enti tled T be R ecep tion of fl uFr eud : R ofugroes in E ng land in 1 68 1 . T his was the first year of the Dragon nades. Ou r ambassador at Paris
, Hon . Henry Savi le , corresponded w i th hi s brother Lord Halifax and w i th Secretary
Sir Leoline Jenkins and secured a hospi table reception for R efugees in E ngland. I give an
abstract from those letters c ontained in a C amden Society Volume , enti tled Savile C or r espond
ence , edited by Mr William Durrant C ooper.
’
, 2 2d Ju ly 1 68 1
, and
was successfu l.
(Page M r Secretary Jenkin s wrote to Savile on 7 th August, that a col lection would be ordered to be made in the churches . O h the same date (2 8th July olzz
7 s ty le) the order in
C ouncil was i ssued fo r the Naturalization of foreign Protestants. I print this , w i th the names
o f Privy C ouncillors present. [T he C lerk of C ouncil signed himself PHI . LLOYD. T he
FR E N CH PR OT E S TAN T E XI LE S .
first i s , that as long as they have been only on the way, the true authors of th e Persecu t ion have n o t concealed themselves , bu t the king
, as much as they could .
’ T is true, the
, went under the name of His Maj esty,
but at the request of the agents and factors for the clergy. And wh i ls t they were busied in these matters , the k ing declared openly hi s in tention of maintain ing the E dicts , and
’twas abuses which he designed to correc t.
T hesecond is , that when they came to the last extremities
, and to open force, then they have
concealed themselves as much as they could , set forth the k ing at h i s full length . T here was nothing heard but these k i nd of discourses .
'
ug lzu s taken it in
iuzu o’ , l/ze Mug proceeds f il l l/zor luau fi lo [ lergy
(losz '
r or . By these two means they have had the address to be only charged with the lesser part of the cruelties
, and to lay the most
violent and odious part at the king ’
s door.
T he third thing which we should remark is , that the better to obtain their end s, they have made it their business to persuade the king , that thi s work would crown him with glory which is a horrid abuse of his credulity, an
abuse so much the greater, by how much they would not have themselves though t the authors of this counci l. And when any particular person o f them are asked th i s day , zoluu
‘ tuey
fl u '
nk of it, there are few of them but condemn It.
In effect , what more false an i dea could
they give to His Majes ty o f glory, than to m ak e i t consis t in surpris ing a poor people , dispersed over al l his kingdom ,
and l iving securely under his wings
, and the remains of
the E d ict o f Nants , and who could not im agine there were any inten tions of depriving them of the l iberty of their consciences , of surprising and overwhelming them in an in
stant , with a numerous army, to whose d iscre t ion they are delivered , and who tel l them that they must
, either by fair means or foul ,
become R oman C atholicks, thi s being theking ’
s
T he firs t i s , that as '
long as they w ere only on the way, the true authors o f the Persecution did not conceal themselves
, but alway studied
to conceal th e k ing as much as they could .
’ T is true, the Decrees , E dic ts ,
‘
and Declara tions , and such other th ings , went sti l l under the name o f His Maj esty
, but on the request
of the agents o r Syndics o f the clergy. And
wh i ls t th ey were busi ed in these matters , the
king declared openly h i s in ten tion of main taining the E dict i tself, and that
’twas ~ only th e abuses and contraventions of it
, which he design ed to correct. T he second is , that when they came t o the
'
speeches , T fie king w il l flow it so
, ilze h ug flu :
u lzz '
ium the clergy cou ld kay o
w z ’
s/zoll . By these two means they have had the address to be on ly charged with the lesser and milder part of the Persecution
, and to lay
,
made it their business to persuade the king ,
that th i s work wou ld crown him w i th the highest g lory, which is a mos t horrid abuse of his credulity , and an abuse so m uch the
greater , by how much they would screen themselves from being thought the authors of this counci l . Hence
, i f any of them in par
ticu lar be asked at this day zofiuz ‘
l lzoy t/zz '
ué
of it, there are few of them but will readily condemn it. Now, what falser idea o f glory could they
give than m aking consist in surprising a poor people defenceless and helpless , dispersed over al l h is kingdom
, and l iving securely u n
der his wings , and under the protection of the
rem ains o f the E dict of Nantes ? And who
could ever imagine there were any intentions of d epriving them o f the established l iberty of their consciences , of surpris ing and overwhelm ing them in an instan t with a numerous arm y to whose discretion they are d elivered up , and who te l l them roundly that they must
, either
by fair means or by foul , become R om an
C athol ics , for that such is the king’s w ill and pleasure P
AN AL VS I S OF VOL UM E FI R S Z
What a falser n otion ; of glory could they offer h im
, than
'
the putting him in the place of God , making the faith and religion of m en to depend upon h is authority, and that hence forwlard i t m u st be said in h i s k ingdom ,
J o ’ ou
t
bel low, [m ouse 1 um per s uaded of it, ou t I oo l low
,
, i s that I believe
noth ing, and that I ’l l be a T urk or a Jew or
whatever the king pleases ?
What falser idea of glory, than to force from men ’s mouth s
, by violence and a long
series of torments , a profession wh ich the heart abhors
, and for wh ich
, crying continually to God for mercy !
What glory i s there in inventing new ways o f persecutions , unknown to former ages , which indeed do not bring death along wi th them
, but keep m en alive to suffer
, that they
m ay overcome their patience and constancy by cruelties , which are above human strength to undergo ? What glory is there in not contenting them
selves to force those who remain in his k ing dom
, but to forbid them to leave it, and keep
them under a double servitude , viz .
, both of
soul and body P What glory is there in keeping his prisons
ful l of innocen t persons who are charged with n o other fault than serving God according to the best of their knowledge
, and for th i s to be
exposed to the rage of dragoons , or condemned
to the gallies and executions on body and
goods ? Will these cruelties render His Maj esty’s n ame lovely in his history to the C atho lick or Protestan t world
2 1
What falser notion of glory could the y ever
offer h im , than the putting him thus in the place o f God , nay even above Go
, d in m ak ing
the faith and religion of h i s subj ects depend on his sole authori ty
, and that henceforward
i t must be said in h i s k ingdom , I bel ieve not
’
king w z
'
,
wh ich , to speak properly, i s that I believe noth ing, and that I ’ l l be a T urk
, a Jew
, an
Atheist , or whatever the king pleases What falser idea of glory
, than to force
series of torments , a con fession which the
heart abhors , and for wh ich they afterward sigh nigh t and day
, crying continually to God
for mercy What glory is there in inventing new ways
of persecution , unknown to former ages , per sec
‘
u tion s wh 1 ch indeed do not bring death along with them , but keep men alive to suffer, that their patience and constancy may be overcome by cruelties
, which are above human
strength to undergo What glory is there in not contenting him
self to force those who remain in h i s k ingdom ,
but to proh ibi t also their leav ing it , and so keep them under a double servi tude both of soul and body ? What glory is there in s tu ffing his prison s ful l
of innocent persons who are charged with no
other crime than the serving God according to the best of their knowledge
, and for this to
be exposed either to the rage o f the dragoons ,
or be condemned to the gallies , and suffer exe
cu tion on body and goods ? What falser idea of glory for the king than
to make it consist in the abuse o f his power ,
and to violate without so much as a shadow o f reason h i s own word and royal faith
, wh ich
he had so solemnly given and so often reite rated ; and th i s , on ly because he can do it with impuni ty , and has to deal with a flock o f
innocent sheep that are under h i s paw and
cannot escape h im ? And yet ’tis thi s wh ich th e clergy of France , by the mouth of the Bishop o f Valence , cal ls a greatness and a glory that raises Louis XIV. above al l other kings , above al l h i s predecessors
, and above time itself, and
consecrates him for eternity P ’ T is what Mon
sieurVari l las calls Labours greater and more incredible
, without comparison , than those
22 FRENCH P R OT E S T AN T E XI LE S .
of Hercules ’ T is what Mr Maim bourg calls
,
and ordering that al l their churches be forth with dem olished 1
” Base unworthy fiatterers
Must people suffer th emselves to be blinded by the fumes of your incense ?
T he concluding paragraph of the tran slation of 1 686 i s much abridged— o
— it run s thus However
,
’twi 1 1 be no offence to God or good m en to leave th l s writing to the world ,
as a protestation made before him and them agains t these Violenoces, omore espec1 ally agains t
the E dict of 1 68 5 . containing the R evocation o f that of Nants , 1 t bel ng 1 1 1 i ts own nature in violable
, irrevocable
, and unalterable. We may, I say , complain , amongst other th ings, against
the worse than inhumane cruelties exercised on dead bodies , when they are dragged along the streets at the horse-tails
, and digged out , and denied sepulchres . We cannot but complain of
the cruel orders to part with our ch i ldren , and suffer them to be baptized and brough t up by
our enemies. Bu t , above all
, against the impious an d detestable practice , now in vogue , of
making religion to depend on
'
the king ’s pleasure , on the will of a mortal prince— and o f
treating perseverance in th e fai th with the odious name of rebel lion . T his is to m ake a God of man , and to run back into the heatheni sh pride , and flattery among the R omans , or an
authorising of atheism or gross idolatry. In fine, we commit ou r complaints and all ou r inte rests into the hands of that Providence which brings good ou t of evi l, and which is above the understanding of mortal s whose houses are in the dust.”
T he peroration of the original con tained more details , and the protestation was ambassa
dorial both in form and in tone , thus
But in the meanwhile , and ti ll i t shall p lease God in his mercy to bring that happy event
to pass , l est we should be wanting to the j ustice of our cause , we desire that this A ccoun t,
which contains our ? ur l C omp loz '
u ls , may serve for a Protestation before heaven and earth
against all the violences we have suffered in the Kingdom of France. Against all the arrests , declarations , edicts , regulations , and al l other ordinances of what nature soever, which our
enemies have caused to be publi shed to the prejudice of the E dict of Nan tes. Against al l sort of Acts , signatures , o r verbal declarations expressing an abj uration of ou r— and the profess ion of the R omish— religion , which fear, torture , and a superior power have extorted from u s or from o ur brethren . Against the plunder that has been already
, or shal l hereafter be, committed of
ou r goods , hou ses , effects , debts , trusts , rents , lands , inheri tances , and revenues , common or
private , either by way of confiscation or by any other way whatsoever, as unj ust, treacherous , and v iolent, committed only by a superior power in full peace, contrary both to reason and the laws o f nature and the rights o f all society
, and inj urious to all mankind. But especial ly we pro
test against the edict o f the 1 8th of October , 1 68 5 , containing the R evocation of the E dict
o f Nantes, as a manifest abuse of the King’s j ustice , authori ty
, and royal power
, since the E dict
,
designed for a standing agreement and concordat between the R oman C atholics and u s , and
.
l ikew 1 se against al l the consequences which may fol low such a revocation , against
the extm ction of the exercise of our religion throughout the whole Kingdom of France , against al l the ignominies and cruelties committed upon dead bodies by depriving them of C hristian burial and exposing them in the fields to be devoured by ravenous beasts
, or dragging them igno
m inl ou s ly through the streets upon hurdles— against the taking away chi ldren by force , and the orders g iven to fathers and mothers to cause them to be baptised and educated by R omish priests. But above all, we protest against that impious and abominable position , which is now
AN AL YS J S OF VOL UM E H R S ] : 2 3
/
brutish cruelty and hellish iniquity. Lastly, we protest against whatsoever we may of righ t protest against
, and declare that such i s our meaning that th ings not expressed be com
,
Sovereign Lords , States and Nation s , and general ly all persons of what condition soever, to be
g raciously pleased that these our lawful and indispensable protestations , wh ich in the simplici ty and sinceri ty of our hearts we are obliged to make and do m ake accordingly
, may serve , be
fore God and before them , as a standing testimony for u s and our posteri ty, for the preserva
tion of our rights and for the discharge of our consciences .”
C otemporary news and reflection s concern ing th i s book are worth quoting. John E velyn wrote as to sth May 1 686
, T h i s day was burnt in the O ld E xchange, by the common hang
m an , a translation of a book written by the famous Monsieur C laude , relating only matters of
fact concerning the horrid massacres and barbarous proceedings of the French King agains t his Protestan t subj ects , without any refutation of any facts therein so mighty a power and ascendant here had the French Ambassador , who was doubtless in great indignation at the pious and truly generous charity of all the nation for th e relief of those miserable sufferers who came over for shelter Sir j ohn Bram ston (in h i s Autobiography, C amden Society im print
, page writes T he French King
, having taken away al l the edicts of h i s prede
ces sors giving liberty to those subj ects o f d ifferen t religion (cal led commonly H ugou ots), re
quired all to conform to the R oman C athol ic religion by a certain day, and having pulled down their churches
, en forcing many to mass
, banishing the ministers and compelling the laity
to conform , many got away
, leaving beh ind them ‘ their estates . A t fi rs t h e let some go on those
terms , wh ich afterwards he refused and if he took them flying , he sen t them to the gallies ,
and used unheard-of cruelties , so that thousands got away into Switzerland , the Low C ountries , and into E ngland . Some having escaped thus
, a narrative or h i story of the persecution was
wri t and printed , both in French and E nglish , wh ich the French Ambassador complained o f
to the King and C ounci l and obtained a order for burning a copy both o f the French and E ngl ish
, wh ich was done on Friday the 8 th of May 1 686
, at the E xchange in London
, by the
hangman yet had '
his Maj esty granted a Brief and great collections made for relief of such French Protestants as fled h i ther (for religion) for protection .
Sir John Bram s ton added ,
Bu t th i s book , i t seems (for I have not yet seen it) had in i t
express ions scandalous , as the Ambassador said , to h i s Maj esty the King of France and in d eed
, if s o , i t was fi tly burned , for all k ings ough t to be careful of the honour and dignity of
kings and princes. T o th is , his editor
, the late Lord Braybrooke replies
, T h is
remark might have been spared , as i t is obvious that the King in th is proceeding lost sight of
the honour and dignity due to h imself.”
T he Bri tish people were tortured with apprehension s of impending religious tyranny and .
persecution during the three years and a half of King James ’ regime . T heir alarms were s trengthened by their observation of events in France , consequen t on the bloody fanaticism o f Louis XIV.
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fo und fi t ex press ion in the Memorial from the E nglish Protestants for their Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Orange .” I quote the paragraph s wh ich exh ibit a paralle l between France and E ngland as to evi l designs upon the Protestant people
We need not remember your H ighnesses , that thes e attempts and endeavours to subvert
ou r l iberty, in ou r relig i on and government , i s a part of