Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/104

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MEMOIRS OF A HUGUENOT FAMILY.

think he had a right to impose upon a poor Protestant, even down to a register's clerk.

From this detail you may learn the necessity of standing up for your rights with firmness, and the duty of using every energy to overcome the obstacles in your path, instead of sitting down quietly as some indolent persons do, to complain of fatigue and rebuffs, without making an effort. Remember, God has promised his blessing to the diligent hand, as well as the upright heart.

In the course of the day, I called to take leave of my Lord the President, and to thank him for all his kindness. I then turned my steps toward Saintes, quite victorious, with the deed in my hand. I made the Seneschal refund the hundred livres already named, and once more I set foot within my own dwelling. The expenses I had incurred during my imprisonment amounted to two thousand livres.

Most of the poor people returned quietly to their own homes, and were allowed to remain there without molestation. They received contributions from charitably disposed Protestants to an amount that made ample amends for the loss of time, and injury to their families, from deprivation of their earnings, during their imprisonment.

The history of our persecution spread far and wide, and I received many letters of congratulation upon the courage and successful result of my appeal to Parliament. Amongst others, the Marquis de Rouvigny, father of Lord Galway, wrote me a complimentary letter. He had the management of much of the business of our Reformed Churches.

Mr. Benoist gives an account of our trial and imprisonment in his "History of the Edict of Nantes." You will find it in the third part of the third volume, pages 744 and 745.