heretic was allowed to sue a Catholic for debt. All this, however, did
not satisfy the monarch or his ecclesiastical advisers. On the 18th
of October 1685, he issued his famous Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes:--

"We by the present Edict which is perpetual and irrevocable,
revoke the Edict given at Nantes in 1583 together with every
concession to the Protestants of whatever nature they be.
We will that all temples of that religion be instantly
demolished. We prohibit our Protestant subjects to assemble
for worship in any private house. We prohibit all our lords
to exercise that religion within their fiefs under penalty of
confiscation of property and imprisonment of person. We enjoin
all ministers of the said faith to leave the kingdom within
fifteen days of the publication of this Edict, under penalty
of the galleys. We enjoin that all children who shall be
born henceforth be baptized by the Catholic curates. Persons
awaiting the enlightening grace of God may live in our kingdom
unhindered on account of their religion on condition that they
do not perform any of its exercises or assemble for prayer or
worship under penalty of body and wealth."

This Edict met with cordial approval from the Catholic party in
France. The famous Madame de Sevigné wrote: "I admire the king for the
means he has devised for ruining the Huguenots. The wars and massacres
of former days only gave vigour to the sect; but the edict just
issued, aided by the dragoons, will give them the _coup de grace_."

The Irish Protestants saw with alarm that amongst the soldiers who
came from France to aid King James were some who had taken an active