The Waldenses.
The Times, 1824-07-15T00:00:00

NAarrativecf anRxct,rsiom ttw Motauirs of qpedaand ,e- searches vinmongkthe Pantidos, orWaltmses, Protgtane nhabiatans of the CtMtian Alp . By the Rev. William Stephen Oily, M-A. rhe author of this volame is -ambitious of making his appearance in the charact er of an histotian as well as tourist, and under the more attractive form o<f a traveller's journal, has attempted to take his readers bv, surprise, and to lead them through an elaborate history of the old Waldenses, and their descendants the Vandois of the Cottian Alps. The subject is new and interesting, and i; requires some assiduity to arrange the materiali, so as to relate a talcof the present day in the same page that contains allusions to past events, and 'to digress from incidents that are connected with a personal narrative to details that belong to centuries ago, without breaking the continuity of such narrative. To gratify the taste of those who read for amusement,there are anecdotes in abundance, and frequent descriptions of scenery, manners, and customs; and, that nothing may be wanting to make it a book of referenee, no pains have been spared in collectwg information from ancient manuscripts, official records, aid other documnents vhose authority might he relied on. The country which the Vaudois inhabit has been hitherto -undescribed, if not unexplored; and it is not often that a traveller is fortunate enough to give an account of scenery so picturesque, and to enter iiito the history of a peo- ple so romantic, as that from wlhich the Albigenses, the Lollards, and persecuted reformers of the middle ages, were derived, without taking up ground that has been pre- viously occupied. Nobody, however, has anticipated Mr. Gully, either in the choice or arrangement of his subject;, and his principal motive seems to have been, to bring the little community into notice, wihom he caUs tha verntable representatives in kin and character of the Waldenses of earliest.timnes. He professes his anxiety to obtain for them a portionof thatregardwhichtheEnglish Governmentused to extend to them, unitil within the last tairty years. For this purpose he has related a variety of facts, which cannot but excite a deep interest in their favour; and among other things, he has fully established their olaim to the restitution of a pension, formerly granted to the clergy of the Vaudois, but suspended in the year 1797, when Piedmont was occu- piedby theFrench troops. It appearsfrom theevidence that Mr. Gilly has adduced, that from the surplus of a national collection raised in England in the year 1655, 16,0001. was put out to interest by Cromwell, to establitb a perma- nent fund for their relief. This money was seized by Charles It. at his restoration;but William IIJ., sensible of the injustice so done to the Vaudois, renewed a grant in their favour, and Queen Mary left a bounty of 500L a year for the maintenance of the Waldensian pastors in Piedmont. Whether, therefore, their title to the pension suspended in 1797 be founded upon the national collection of 1655, or upon the bequest of Queen Mary, the justice of their claim remains the same, and we cannot understand upon what principle the British Government continues to withhold the stipend. We are glad the subject is brought inl so tangible a form before the public, and the fact of the author having been permitted by the King to dedicate the book to His MAIajest~ sweLto thecause. THE WALD.NSER.