Protestantism in the Waldensian Valleys - James Aitken Wylie

have outdone the soldiers of the Propaganda. We
see the victims climbing the hills with what speed
they are able, the murderer on their track. We see
the torrents as they roll down from the heights
beginning to be tinged with blood. Gleams of lurid
light burst out through the dark smoke that is
rolling through the vales, for a priest and monk
accompany each party of soldiers, to set fire to the
houses as soon as the inmates have been
dispatched. Alas! what sounds are these that fall
upon our ears.
The cries and groans of the dying are echoed
and re-echoed from the rocks around, and it seems
as if the mountains had taken up a wailing for the
slaughter of their children. "Our Valley of
Lucerna," exclaims Leger, "which was like a
Goshen, was now converted into a Mount Etna,
darting forth cinders and fire and flames. The earth
resembled a furnace, and the air was filled with a
darkness like that of Egypt, which might be felt,
from the smoke of towns, villages, temples,
mansions, granges, and buildings, all burning in the
flames of the Vatican."[15]
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