dignified eloquence of his defence, that she entreated her husband to permit him to continue wearing a garb to which he did so much honor.
The often repeated occurrence of little vexatious trifles, such as those named above, made it evident to my father that more serious persecution was at hand. He did every thing in his power, by prayer and teaching, to prepare his flock for the day of trial. His labors were blessed in no common degree, and the effects of his instruction were visible long after he had been laid in the grave. When the great persecution came on, eighteen years after his death, a most unusual proportion of the Protestant population of Vaux and Royan fled the kingdom for the sake of the truth. There were few parishes in which so small a number of persons abjured their religion under the terrors of the dragonade, and of those who were terrified into doing so with their lips, I believe there are many who still worship God in sincerity around their family altars.
My father was never seen in the transaction of worldly business of any kind. My mother attended to all such matters. She consulted with him in any case where she had doubts, but she alone appeared. She received and paid money, she gave directions to work-people and servants; thus my father never came in contact with his flock but in the exercise of his spiritual functions, and this circumstance no doubt contributed to the respect with which all looked up to him.
His favorite recreation was gardening, and it was in coming out of his garden, in the year 1666, that he was seized with apoplexy, which proved fatal.
It is impossible to describe the affliction caused by his death to a large circle of mourning parishioners, as well as to
