Notwithstanding that the Vaudois have been established in some of the places I have stated above, from time immemorial, and have had great possessions in others: they are now entirely confined within the three valleys mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, and there exists an edict rendering them incapable of purchasing beyond these limits. It is to be hoped that their fidelity and attachment to their sovereign, will be rewarded by a restoration to the rights which his other subjects enjoy, and that the goodness of the reigning prince, will lead him to consider it a duty, to reinstate them as soon as circumstances permit, in the full possession of those privileges which the claims of nature and society so loudly demand. The population of the three valleys may amount to 16,000 or 17,000 souls,* which would give about 3000 for the number capable of bearing arms; it does not appear, however, that in the various persecutions our ancestors had ever more than 1500 men in the field, the rest being necessary for the defence of their own territory. By these feeble means has the God of armies effected the wonderful events which I am about to relate; and so extraordinary are they, that they might well appear incredible, did not the most authentic proofs exist of them. * Vide population in 1820, about 22,000. CHAPTER II. NAME OF THE VAUDOIS As to the name of the Vaudois, it might be sufficient to answer from the authority of that judicious critic, Theodore* Bèze,** and Coug-nard,*** advocate of the parliament of Normandy. That the Vaudois have received their name from the valleys they inhabit. The names of Waldense or Valdense in Italian, and Valdensis in Latin, are thus derived from the same root, vale, valle, and vallis, a valley, as Vaudois is derived from vaux, the word for valley, in their ancient patois.**** * Beza, the editor of the famous bible of Geneva, and friend of Milton. ** Portraites des hommes illustres, p. 985. *** Traite touchant la Papesse Jeanne, p. 8. **** The Vaudois language seems as ancient at least as the Provençal, and very similar: it would be interesting to trace their origins and distinctions. Vide French work on the Provençal poets and troubadours, and Sismondis languages du midi de l'Europe.