The Huguenot Bartholomew Dupuy and his descendants

HUGUENOT STRUGGLES. 83
would not abjure, fled to Switzerland, the introd .
Netherlands, England and Germany. The less.
dragoons placed on the frontiers to prevent
theii' escape were in vain. Many made an
insincere abjuration, who, on the slightest appearance
of relapse, were put to death. When
it now became apparent that the Huguenots
were no longer within the pale of the law, then
Roman Catholic mobs arose against them.
They broke into their churches, tore up the
benches and burned them, along with the
Bibles and Hymn Books, and the authorities
conniving at such proceedings banished the
burned-out preachers, and forbade further
worship in such churches.
Pity, terror, and anguish had agitated the
minds of the Huguenots, until they were
finally reduced to a state of despair. Life was
made almost intolerable to them.
At the last, all hope vanished when the
King, Louis XIV. signed, on the 18th and Revocapublished
on the 22d of October, 1685, ^/le
^f\l^
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Its enact- Edict of
ments have been briefly summed up as fol- Mantes,
lows: "The demolition of all the remaining
Protestant temples throughout France; the
entire proscription of the Protestant Reli-
gion; the prohibition of even private worship
under penalty of confiscation of body and
property; the banishment of all Protestant
pastors from the kingdom within fifteen
days; the closing of all Protestant schools;
the prohibition of parents from instructing
their children in the Protestant faith; the
obligation, under penalty of a heavy fine, of
haying their children baptized by the parish
priest, and educating them in the Roman