All persecution was then suspended till 1588, when the Duke of Savoy took possession of their country, and, in 1597, exhorted the Vaudois to receive the mass by every means in his power; they replied firmly, but dutifully, like peaceful subjects, and the threatened persecution was suspended till 1601. When Charles Emanuel became absolute master of the marquisate, in exchange for Bresse: he published an edict, commanding that every Vaudois, who did not declare his intention of receiving the mass in fifteen days, should leave the country within two months, and never return, under pain of confiscation and death. Let the compassionate imagine the distress of these unfortunate Vaudois, when they found that nothing could diminish the rigour of this decree; they were forced to abandon all their property and retire, some to France, and others to Geneva and the valleys. Those of the church of Praviglielm were alone flattered with the hopes of an exception in their favour; yet they too were forced to fly suddenly, leaving their wives and children; but some time afterwards, upon a threat of retaliation if any harm happened to them, they were allowed to return. They remained till 1633, visited occasionally by a pastor from the valleys, in the greatest secresy; when, on the reception of an order (from Duke Victor Amadeus, similar to the one issued by Emanuel Philibert in 1565,) they too were driven into perpetual banishment, and thus perished the last trace of the Vaudois church in the marquisate of Saluces, where it had flourished for three centuries. CHAPTER VIII.