bread with their tears: they are all filled with burning zeal and
inviolable loyalty to you; their love for your august person is only
equalled by their respect; history bears witness that they contributed in
no small degree to place your great and magnanimous ancestor on his
rightful throne, and since your miraculous birth they have never done
anything worthy of blame; they might indeed use much stronger terms, but
your Majesty has spared their modesty by addressing to them on many
occasions words of praise which they would never have ventured to apply
to themselves; these your subjects place their sole trust in your sceptre
for refuge and protection on earth, and their interest as well as their
duty and conscience impels them to remain attached to the service of your
Majesty with unalterable devotion."

But, as we have seen, nothing could restrain the triumvirate which held
the power just then, and thanks to the suggestions of Pere Lachaise and
Madame de Maintenon, Louis XIV determined to gain heaven by means of
wheel and stake.

As we see, for the Protestants, thanks to these numerous decrees,
persecution began at the cradle and followed them to the grave.

As a boy, a Huguenot could--enter no public school; as a youth, no career
was open to him; he could become neither mercer nor concierge, neither
apothecary nor physician, neither lawyer nor consul. As a man, he had no
sacred house, of prayer; no registrar would inscribe his marriage or the
birth of his children; hourly his liberty and his conscience were
ignored. If he ventured to worship God by the singing of psalms, he had
to be silent as the Host was carried past outside. When a Catholic
festival occurred, he was forced not only to swallow his rage but to let
his house be hung with decorations in sign of joy; if he had inherited a