The Entrance to La Torre 145 Cromwell and Milton 161 The Pass of Pra Del Tor 169 View of the Protestant Church of St. Jean, Waldensian Valleys 177 The Vaudois Crossing Lake Leman by Night 184 View in the Village of San Laurenzo, Angrogna 193 Church of Chabas, the oldest in the Valleys 201 Tomb of General Beckwith 209 CHAPTER I. THE WALDENSES--THEIR VALLEYS. Submission of the Churches of Lombardy to Rome--The Old Faith maintained in the Mountains--The Waldensian Churches--Question of their Antiquity--Approach to their Mountains--Arrangement of their Valleys--Picture of blended Beauty and Grandeur. It was the ninth century, and superstitious beliefs and idolatrous rites were overspreading the Church, when Claudius, Bishop of Turin, who was deeply imbued with the spirit of Augustine, set himself to arrest the growing corruption with all the fervour of a living faith, and the vigour of a courageous and powerful intellect. To the battle for the purity of doctrine he joined that for the independence of the Churches of Lombardy. Even in Claude’s day they remained free, although many Churches more remote from Rome had already been subjugated by that all-conquering power. The Ambrosian Liturgy was still used in the cathedral of Milan, and the Augustinian doctrine continued to be preached from many of the pulpits of Lombardy and Piedmont. This independence of Rome, and this greater purity of faith and worship, these Churches mainly owed to the three Apostolic men whose names adorn their annals--Ambrose, Vigilantius, and Claude.