Protestantism in France From Death of Francis I to Edict of Nantes - James Aitken Wylie

horrible massacre of our brethren has just taken
place at Lyons. In all the villages on our route we
have seen the gibbets erected, and blood flowing; it
seems that it is the same all over France.
Tomorrow, or the day after, you will see those who
have escaped the butchery arrive on your frontier."
The distressing news spread like lightning through
the town; the shops were closed, and the citizens
met in companies in the squares. Their experience
of the past had taught them the demands which this
sad occurrence would make on their benevolence.
Indoors the women busied themselves providing
clothes, medicines, and abundance of viands for
those whom they expected soon to see arrive in
hunger and sickness. The magistrates dispatched
carriages and litters to the villages in the Pays de
Gex; the peasants and the pastors were on the
outlook on the frontier to obtain news, and to be
ready to succor the first arrivals. Nor had they long
to wait. On the 1st of September they beheld
certain travelers approaching, pale, exhausted by
fatigue, and responding with difficulty to the
caresses with which they were overwhelmed. They
could hardly believe 'their own safety, seeing that
349