decree
often proved a sentence of death, not only to the child, but to its
parents.

The whole of the Protestant temples throughout France were subject to
demolition. The expelled pastors were compelled to evacuate the
country within fifteen days. If, in the meantime, they were found
performing their functions, they were liable to be sent to the galleys
for life. If they undertook to marry Protestants, the marriages were
declared illegal, and the children bastards. If, after the expiry of
the fifteen days, they were found lingering in France, the pastors
were then liable to the penalty of death.

Protestants could neither be born, nor live, nor die, without state
and priestly interference. Protestant _sages-femmes_ were not
permitted to exercise their functions; Protestant doctors were
prohibited from practising; Protestant surgeons and apothecaries were
suppressed; Protestant advocates, notaries, and lawyers were
interdicted; Protestants could not teach, and all their schools,
public and private, were put down. Protestants were no longer employed
by the Government in affairs of finance, as collectors of taxes, or
even as labourers on the public roads, or in any other office. Even
Protestant grocers were forbidden to exercise their calling.

There must be no Protestant librarians, booksellers, or printers.
There was, indeed, a general raid upon Protestant literature all over
France. All Bibles, Testaments, and books of religious instruction,
were collected and publicly burnt. There were bonfires in almost every
town. At Metz, it occupied a whole day to burn the Protestant books
which had been seized, handed over to the clergy, and condemned to be
destroyed.

Protestants were even forbidden to hire out horses, and Protestant
grooms were forbidden to give riding lessons. Protestant domestics
were forbidden to hire themselves as servants, and Protestant
mistresses were forbidden to hire them under heavy penalties. If they
engaged Protestant servants, they were liable to be sent to the
galleys for life. They were even prevented employing "new converts."

Artisans were forbidden to work without certificates that their
religion was Catholic. Protestant apprenticeships were suppressed.
Protestant washerwomen were excluded from their washing-places on the
river. In fact, there was scarcely a degradation that could be
invented, or an insult that could be perpetrated, that was not
practised upon those poor Huguenots who r