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    education oHbe poor in oar own country , iThe next subject that claims attention is the condition of their ministers and churches . Each of the thirteen parishes has a settled minister ; and to each parish aeveral hamlets are annexed , in which

    there are also temples . Queen Mary established what they term the royal subsidy , a grant of 4 OO livres ( 20 Z . ) annually to each pastor ; but from this fund ' nothing has been received since

    the year 1797 . What they call the national subsidy , is the product of a collection in England about forty years ago . Part of this is interided for the widows of ministers ; and ministers themselves derive from it the annual

    sum of four hundred livres , which has been regularly received . It is obvious , from this statement , that those pastors who . have not private property , must be in unhappy circumstances ; and indeed the royal subsidy having failed , some have been reduced to the painful necessity of borrowing money of their respective flocks .

    Few would imagine that persons of learning and taste are to be ' found among them , and yet there are : their education places them on the same , or nearly the same , level-with the generality of ministers in this country . The Swiss Cantons , which have

    ever shewn a friendly regard to the interests of the Waldenses , assisted them in this respect ; and in 1729 an English lady settled a pension upon a student , which was paid through the consistory of Amsterdam . Their candidates were educated at Geneva

    and Lausanne ; but I think I am correct in stating that their pensions have failed ( the events of the late war having introduced change and disorder into every department ) , and that they jWill experience difficulties * in future ,

    on account of the expense of an academical education . I am sorry to say the , case of at least some of the widows of decea&ed pastors is also distressing . There are now six : one , who has a daughter , has only about 10 / . a year - ~ ishe had a son , a student at L ,

    autratirie , who was compelled to serve in the army : he afterwards died at home of his wounds . The late Mr . O . had a very laborious parish in the mountain * ; often a long and fatiguing Walk ; SiMthfen , after both the inteuse jtort in WtpQQfr « i 4 t&e rail

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    an £ snow i * winter , noplace of shelter and rest ( the church standing on an isolated spot ) , before the service . He fell , at length , a victim to his exertions , leaving a widow and seven daughters , the eldest only fourteen

    years old , to lament so severe a loss The pecuniary resdurces for , the support of so numerous a young family are very slender indeed . When I stood near the grave and read this

    simple inscription on a rude headstone : " 1814 , J . T )' . O . Pasteur et Juge j" and when I entered his libra - ry and , opened the books he had been used to read , and looked thoughtfully around the room which had so often

    witnessed the prayers of a father for his family , and a pastor for his flock ; this consideration that their circumstances were so reduced , could not but awaken still deeper sympathy for this afflicted family .

    It has been already stated that there are thirteen parishes 5 of these my short residence only permitted me to see nine . The old chapel of St . Jean had been destroyed by persons hostile to the principles of the Waldenses j but of late years they have , with the assistance of friends at Turin , built a new church . This seems to confirm

    what has been advanced of the serious view of the importance of religion which reigns iathe ' vaileys . But this is not all : they have likewise erected a new church , almost wholly at their own expense , at St . Germain , * an earthquake ( which is no

    uncommon occurrence among them ) having greatly injured ( he former one in 1808 . With regard to church government , there is a moderator elected at every synod ; each church has a deac . on , who attends to objects of

    charity ; and several elders ; the discipline is less strict than formerly ; the liturgy used in public worship is that of Neufchate !; the festivals observed are Christmas , Easter , Ascension Day * and Pentecost , t * Other particulars , with which either

    * The United Brethren kindly advanced something . f All the offices of their church are in French , which they often speak 5 hut the patois of Piedmont is also prevalent among them . The ancient JValdensea were Episcopalians with respect t * church government , and tjie sermolis in Italian , or a Ian * ffuftgre in * Qia # tacftwro similar to i * *

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    f $ 6 _ Memdir respecting the Watdensei .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1816, page 136, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2450/page/8/