James Fontaine, “A Tale Of The Huguenots Or Memoirs Of A French Refugee Family (De La Fontaine)”, 1838 (Complete)

A Tale Of The Huguenots Or Memoirs Of A French Refugee Family (De La Fontaine)

Translated (From French) And Compiled From The Original Manuscripts Of (Jacques) James (De La) Fontaine

By One Of His Descendants (Ann Maury)

With An Introduction By F. L. Hawkes, D. D.

Shewing to the generations to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, that they should make them known to their children; that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. — Psalm 78.

New York: John S. Taylor
Theological And Sunday School Bookseller
Corner Park Row And Spruce Street.

1838

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According to Bob Juch’s Kin, the Rev. James Fontaine is my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. He was born in France, on the 7th April, 1658. Mr. Juch provides the following account of the life and adventures of the Rev. James Fontaine:

“Like his father, he too became a minister. His life was full of adventure. He was imprisoned for a long time, and at length escaped from France. In England he married a French lady, Anne Elizabeth Boursiquot, also a refugee. Although he was lame from a fall in childhood, yet he was active and energetic, and sued many ingenious devices to support himself and family. He received Holy orders from the Protestant Synod, assembled at Tannton. Here his first child, Mary Ann Fontaine, was born 12th April, 1690. He moved to Cork, Ireland, in 1694, and supported his family by having baizee manufactured on hand looms, for power looms had not yet come into use in England. He preached to a congregation, but they were so poor he declined to receive any compensation. On the day of a baptism of a son, he made a great supper, as though he intended to eat the wealthiest of the French reggaes in Cork; but instead of that, he invited the poor of his flock, and after they had eaten and drank abundantly of the best, he gave each a shilling to take home. Mr. Fontaine then concluded, as his family was becoming large, to find a country home, and he rented a farm on Bear Haven Bay. His plan was to eke out his income by a fishery. But here he encountered trouble entirely unexpected. One morning in June a French privateer hove in sight. She floated gently toward his house in perfect calm. She had a force of eighty men on board, besides four of his Irish neighbors who acted as guides. She mounted ten guns. He made a feint which deceived the enemy as to his numbers. The privateer entered the mouth of the creek and anchored a long musket shot from the house, presently the lieutenant landed with twenty men and marched directly toward the house, Mr. Fontaine had seven men with him in addition to his wife and children. He placed them at different windows and he posted himself in one of the towers over the door, and as the lieutenant was advancing with every appearance of confidence he fired at him with the blunderbuss loaded with large shot, some of which entered his neck and the rest his side. His men took him up, crossed the ditch and carried him to the vessel. The captain was furious at this unexpected resistance from a ministry; and sent another officer on shore with twenty more men and two small cannon, which were discharged against the house; but the position of the battery was oblique, and the balls glanced from the heavy stone walls. The conflict became a hot one. During the time there were several hundred Irishmen collected on a neighboring height, rejoicing in the anticipation of the defeat of the Fontaines. The Frenchman who was pointing the cannon was killed, and an incessant fire was kept up, and as soon as a musket was emptied it was handed down to one of the children to reload, and he was given another. Mrs. Fontaine was here and there and everywhere, carrying ammunition and giving encouragement to all, as well by what she said as by her own calm deportment. She was praying incessantly, but she took care “to keep the powder dry,” and in good supply. Claude Bonnet, a French soldier, received a ball in the fleshy part of the arm, and she applied the first dressing to it with her own hands. The engagement lasted from 8 o’clock in the morning until 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and during the whole time there had been no cessation of firing. The enemy then retired with three men killed and seven wounded. The name of James Fontaine, and his wife, too, became known throughout Europe by means of the newspapers giving the history of this defence. The government furnished him with ammunition in abundance, and he bought several six pounders which had been fished up from a wreck, and he raised a fortification and planted his guns upon it so as to command the mouth of the inlet. Mr. Fontaine then went to Dublin to wait on the Council and concert measures for the better defence of the coast. During his absence a privateer approached the house. Mrs. Fontaine was on the alert, had all the cannons loaded, and one of them fired off to show that all was in readiness for defence, and when they saw this they veered about and sailed away. Then and there the coat-of-arms of the Fontaine family ought to have been changed, and instead of the mysterious emblems known only to a herald’s office, should have been substituted the picture of a lady bravely applying the fuse to a cannon, the smoke rolling in volumes from its mouth, and the ball flying through the air in the direction of a vessel in the offing. No blood ever mingled with the Fontaines and Maurys, more noble than that of Anna Elizabeth Boursiquot. But a French privateer attacked his house for a third time, in the night, and sent eighty men in three boats on shore. Although taken by surprise, Mr. Fontaine prepared for defence. The enemy set all the outhouses on fire, and in a half hour the defender was enveloped in smoke, so that he was unable to see his enemies. He had to fire haphazard; and overloading his piece it burst and he was thrown down with such violence that three of his ribs and his collar-bone were broken, and the flesh of his right hand much torn. After he was prostrated, Mrs. Fontaine assumed the command; she had an eye to everything; she went round to furnish ammunition as it was required; and she gave courage as well by lier exhortations as her example. But such heroic efforts were of no avail and they were conquered, and Mr. Fontaine and two of his sons were carried away prisoners; the Captain announcing that he would release them on the payment of œ100. Did the lady sit down and weep? Nothing of the kind! She flew around to borrow the money. She succeeded only partly, and seeing the vessel under sail, she determined to follow by land, and keep the vessel in sight as long as she could. She ran to a promontory, and made a signal to the pirate with her apron tied to a stick. A boat was dispatched to hear what she had to say. After a great deal of bargaining the Captain agreed to release her husband upon a cash payment of œ30, and retained her son Peter as hostage for the payment of the balance of the money. Peter was subsequently released. Mr. Fontaine left this inhospitable coast, and removed to Dublin. James Fontaine and his wife had a large family of children. Of them the Rev. Peter Fontaine removed to America. He was rector of Westover parish, in Virginia, and his daughter, Mary Ann, married Isaac Winston, who had “a good fortune and a spotless reputation.” He is the ancestor of a large family of wealthy and respectable citizens of Alabama, which gave a governor to that State in the person of John Anthony Winston.(*) A daughter of James Fontaine, Mary Ann Fontaine, married Matthew Maury, in Ireland, on the 20th of October, 1716. She had been born in England, in 1690. He was of Castle Mauron, in Gascony, France. He had lived in Dublin about two years, having come hither as a refugee, on account of his religion. He was not a minister, as some have supposed; was “a very honest man, a good economist, but without property.” There is no doubt of his having been well educated, as we shall show when we come to speak of his sons. His wife (who lived until she was sixty-five) had a checkered existence. She was a girl of fourteen when she had to assist her father in defending his home against the French privateers; and, after the family came to Virginia, although the public wars with the Indians had ceased, yet the frontiers were frequently visited by their incursions, and fire, and sword, and perpetual alarms, surrounded them all the latter days of her life. The effect was to form one of the most perfect characters in the whole list of men and women belonging to her descendants (who have never been wanting in nerve or intellect). Matthew Maury and his wife came to Virginia in 1719, and settled in King William county, on the Pamunkey. They had three children–James, Mary and Abraham.”

One of Rev. Fontaine’s descendants, Ann Maury, came into possession of his original French manuscripts, detailing much of his extraordinary experiences. The manuscripts were translated into English and prepared for publication in 1838. The book was entitled, “A Tale Of The Huguenots, Or, Memoirs Of A French Refugee Family (De La Fontaine)”.

The Huguenots were French Protestants of the 16th and 17th centuries, subscribing to the teachings of John Calvin. The name “Huguenot” is of uncertain origin, but some believe it is derived from the combination of German and Flemish phrases which describes the practice of worshipping God in the home. At that time, the French Catholic Government sought to quell the Huguenots by enacting severe measures of persecution against them. Eventually, tens of thousands fled France, seeking refuge in many parts of the world, including Europe, Africa and America. Around 50,000 Huguenots migrated to England, among whom was the De La Fontaine family.

Samuel Smiles published a book in 1876 entitled, “The Huguenots: Their Settlements, Churches And Industries, In England And Ireland”. The appendix provides a list of distinguished names, including that of the De La Fontaines:

“Fontaine, De La Fontaine: many members of this family settled in England.—James Fontaine, son of James de la Fontaine, pastor of Vaux and Royan, married for his first wife an Englishwoman, a Miss Thompson, in 1628, and had by her five children;—of whom Judith, married to a M. Sinermot, was left a widow with four children. After being herself shut up in a convent, and compelled to make abjuration of her religion, she succeeded in escaping with her daughters to London, where they maintained themselves by needlework.—James, pastor of Archiac, in Saintonge, died and left a widow, who, after being confined in a dungeon for three years because of her faith, succeeded in reaching London with her three sons, one of whom became a Protestant minister in Germany.- Elizabeth, married to M. Santreau, pastor of Saujon, in Saintonge, who first emigrated to Ireland, and left it for America with his family, but their vessel being wrecked, they were all drowned within sight of Boston.— Peter, pastor of Vaux, who, after imprisonment for six months, escaped to England, and settled in London, where he became minister of the Pest House chapel. One of Peter’s daughters married John Arnauld, a London merchant.—James Fontaine married for his second wife Marie Chaillon, in 1641, by whom he had two sons and three daughters;—of whom Mary married Peter Forestier, a zealous pastor, who took refuge in London, and whose son was a celebrated chronometer maker; Ann, who married Leon Testard Sieur des Meslars, and escaped to Plymouth with her husband, but died shortly after reaching England; James (see narrative at p. 301); and Peter, who, under the influence of his wife, abjured his religion, became a Roman Catholic, and remained in France. James Fontaine, so celebrated for his exploits at Bearhaven, died in Dublin, but nearly all his family subsequently emigrated to Virginia, and settled there. His eldest daughter, Mary Anne, married Matthew Maury, of Castel Mauron, Gascony, who for a time settled in Dublin, but afterwards left for America; and from this branch the Maurys of Virginia are descended. The only one who remained in this country was Moses, who pursued the calling of an engraver, in London, in which he acquired considerable reputation. A lady in Australia writes to us as follows: “My great-great- grandfather Fontaine, or De la Fontaine, was at one time Lord of the Manor of Nismes. He was greatly persecuted for his faith. For a long time he preached to the people in the mountain gorges of the Cevennes. He ultimately escaped from France with his betrothed and his sister. After reaching London, one of his sons was employed in the Bank of England.””

I am pleased to make the autobiography of my forefather available through the online resources of the AHB. I thank the Lord Jesus Christ, who enabled us both, for that He counted us faithful, putting us into the gospel ministry.

“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”—1 Timothy 1:17

Jared Smith

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Chapter 1

Reasons for writing these memoirs — Noble origin of our family — John de la Fontaine born — Obtains a commission in the household of Francis I. — Embraces Protestantism — Persecution of Protestants — January Edict — John de la Fontaine resigns his commission — His assassination — Flight of his three sons — Arrival at Rochelle — Charitable reception — Marriage of James de la Fontaine — Attempt to poison him — Application for pardon to Henry IV.

Chapter 2

James Fontaine — Fond of study — Travels as tutor to a young nobleman — Called to the churches of Vaux and Royan — Marries an English lady — Second marriage — His personal appearance — Habit — Labors in the ministry — Capuchins and Jesuits come to hear him preach — Summoned to appear before the governor for preaching on the ruins of the Church — A second summons — Anticipation of future persecution — Death.

Chapter 3

My birth — Lameness — Imitation of my fathers prayers — Meditations upon the heavenly bodies — Sent to school — Disgusted with study — Letter to sister — Mr. de la Bussiere — Admirable preceptor — Eccentric man — Enter college — Take degree of Master of Arts — My mother’s death — Division of property.

Chapter 4

Study with Mr. Forestier — His persecutions — His wife’s firmness — Return home — Pray with neighbors — Leave the neighbourhood at Easter — Poor people assemble in the woods — A spy watches them — Warrants issued — A mason taken up — He recants — His repentance — My return home — Warrant against me — Determine to remain and wait the issue — Grand Provost and archers appear — Conducted to prison — Obtain permission to pray night and morning in prison.

Chapter 5

Provost and archers make another tour — Firmness of the poor country people — Twenty brought to prison — Supplied with necessaries by Protestants of Saintes — Attempt to shake their faith — Precaution in anticipation of separation — Indictment against me — Confrontation — Recollement — Examination of witnesses — Agoust — Two criminals — Gaoler — Gaoler’s wife — Apply to the seneschal for enlargement — Accusation of King’s advocate — Placed in a dungeon — Removed to the Town Hall — Proposal to regain freedom by bribery.

Chapter 6

Trial before the Presidency — A digression — My defence — Angry discussion with the President — Query — My reply — Sentence.

Chapter 7

Appeal to Parliament — Copy of factum — President’s observation upon it — Sentence reverse — Register refuses copy of the decree — Apply for redress — Return home.

Chapter 8

Persecution of 1685 — Meeting of ministers and elders — My opinion opposed to the majority — Meeting of Protestants at Royan — Mr. Certani dissuades numbers from emigration — Interview with him — Gloomy forebodings — Departure of many persons — Dragoons appear — Leave home — Visit sisters — Traverse the country — Place betrothed in safety.

Chapter 9

Revocation of Edict of Nantes — Preparations for flight — Difficulties and dangers — Land in England — Cheap bread — Speculate in grain — Cruelty of a ship Captain.

Chapter 10

Singular proposal from a lady — Marriage — Mode of living — Remove to Bridgwater — Assistance from Committee — Why discontinued — Application for relief — Unkind treatment — Receive Holy Orders — Attempt to recover property in France.

Chapter 11

Remove to Taunton — Keep a shop — Manufactory — Very prosperous — Summoned before the Mayor — Defence — Recorder’s speech — Discharge.

Chapter 12

Revolution of 1688 — Landing of the Dutch — Unexpected visitor — Soldiers billeted upon me — Retire from business — Endeavour to make calimancoes — Profit upon them — Instruct a crippled weaver — Secret discovered — Visit Dublin and Cork — Shipwreck — Place sons in Holland — Increase of family.

Chapter 13

Arrival at Cork — Enter upon pastoral duties — Manufactory — Great happiness — Dissension in the church — Resignation — Copy of certificate — Remarkable warning by a dream — Visit fishing stations — Death of Aaron — Turn fisherman — Remove to Bear Haven — Loss of the Robert — Bad season — Trading voyage — Success in fishing — Loss by mismanagement of partners — Troublesome Irish neighbours.

Chapter 14

Attacked by a French Privateer — Defence — Letter to the Duke of Ormond — Ammunition furnished by government — Build a small fort — Visit Dublin — London — Obtain a pension — Copy of warrant — Return home.

Chapter 15

Attacked by a second Privateer — Outhouses fired — Breach in the wall — Wounded — Surrender — Carried away as a prisoner — Expostulate with captain — Ransomed — Peter left as a hostage — His deportment

Chapter 16

Affidavit before Magistrates — Retaliation on French prisoners — Removal to Dublin — Hire a haunted house — Claim compensation from the county of Cork — Disturbance in haunted house — School — Education of children — Peter goes to College — John obtains a commission in the army — Moses and Francis enter college — Moses studies law — Emigration to America — Marriage of children — My wife’s death — Failure of health — Conclusion.

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The history of the little work now in the reader’s hands, is briefly this. Among the private documents, belonging to one of the most respectable families under the parochial charge of the present writer, there has long been preserved, with pious care, a manuscript autobiography of one of its ancestors, who, as a persecuted Huguenot, endured much for the sake of his faith. It was the labour of his latter days to prepare for his descendants the record alluded to, as a memorial of his gratitude for the Providence that had sustained him in many dangers and trials, and as an admonition to his posterity to adhere to the faith for which their forefathers hazarded life. The work, which extended to several hundred pages, was written in the French language, and without any view to publication.

In the friendly confidence growing out of parochial relations, the existence of this manuscript became known to the writer of this introduction. Curiosity led to its examination; the strange and interesting nature of the incidents it recorded, related as they were with unpretending simplicity, soon fixed his attention. It struck him as being a vivid picture of by-gone times sketched by an honest eye witness; and the page of past history thus illustrated was not the least interesting in the records of Protestantism.

There was also, as it seemed to the writer, many an useful lesson to be gathered from the leading events of the story. Independent of the spirit of piety that pervaded the book, and of the testimony it afforded to the doctrine of God’s providential care of the Christian, who in humble faith cast all his care upon Him, there were valuable lessons of wisdom, applicable to “the life that now is;” and it was thought that youth might here find an example worthy of its imitation.

Here was the spectacle of a man, accustomed in his early days to the…

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Reasons for writing these memoirs — Noble origin of our family — John de la Fontaine born — Obtains a commission in the household of Francis I. — Embraces Protestantism — Persecution of Protestants — January Edict — John de la Fontaine resigns his commission — His assassination — Flight of his three sons — Arrival at Rochelle — Charitable reception — Marriage of James de la Fontaine — Attempt to poison him — Application for pardon to Henry IV

My dear children,

Having observed the deep interest you have taken in all that has befallen your ancestors, when I have related their adventures to you, I am induced to write down their history for your use, to the end that the pious examples of those from whom we derive our origin may not be lost to you, or those who succeed you.

I trust that it may be the means of engaging you to dedicate yourselves wholly and unreservedly to the service of that God whom they worshipped at the risk of their lives, and to be steadfast in the profession of that pure faith for which they suffered the severest hardships with unshaken constancy. And also that you may admire the watchful and wonderful providences of God exerted in supporting and preserving them through every trial. Indeed, without looking beyond the compass of your own memories, you may recall numberless instances of the providential care of that same God “whose hand is not shortened.”

For my own part, I trust that the making of this retrospect may be attended with great benefit, bringing before me the frailties and sins of each age and condition of my past life, and making me humble myself before the throne of grace, and with trembling pray for pardon through the mediation of my Blessed Saviour: and by the assistance of the Holy Spirit, I may hope for more watchfulness and circumspection for the time to come. And when I review the uncommon, innumerable, and unmerited mercies I have received through the whole course of my life, I hope my gratitude will be increased towards my Almighty benefactor, and surely I shall be encouraged to put my whole trust in him for the future. If I owe such a debt of gratitude for the things of this life, its comforts and conveniences, how incalculably great must it be for his mercy to my immortal soul, shedding the blood of his only begotten Son for my redemption. Oh my God! I entreat thee to continue thy goodness during the few days that may yet remain to me, and at last receive my soul. Amen.

Before proceeding to the history, I should mention that our name was originally De la Fontaine, and not Fontaine.

My father, from motives of humility was the first to cut off the De la, an indication of nobility; my older brothers wished to resume it, but he would not consent, having a large family and little property; for you must know that in France no one of noble family can engage in trade or the mechanic arts without forfeiting his claim to nobility.

The father of my great grandfather, who was a nobleman, could not bear the thought of bringing up his children without employment, according to the usual custom, and therefore placed his son in the King’s service.

It is with this John De la Fontaine that I commence these annals, he being the first of whom I have any accurate knowledge.

He was born in the province of Maine, about the year 1500, and as soon as he was old enough to bear arms, his father procured him a commission in what was then called Les ordonnances du Roi in the household of Francis I of France. It was in the tenth or twelfth year of this monarch’s reign that he…

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James Fontaine — Fond of study — Travels as tutor to a young nobleman — Called to the churches of Vaux and Royan — Marries an English lady — Second marriage — His personal appearance — Habit — Labors in the ministry — Capuchins and Jesuits come to hear him preach — Summoned to appear before the governor for preaching on the ruins of the Church — A second summons — Anticipation of future persecution — Death

I now proceed to my own father, who at an early age discovered great aptitude for study, and a very serious turn of mind. He was fortunate in gaining the friendship of Mr. Merlin, a minister at Rochelle, and this worthy servant of God assisted him greatly in his education, and recommended him as tutor to a near relation of the Countess of Royan, in which station he accompanied his pupil to the College of Saumur, and while superintending his studies there, completed his own preparation for the ministry.

Before entering on the sacred office, he travelled with this youth through various countries, and thus had the opportunity of acquiring several foreign languages in perfection. They made a long stay in London, and there my father fell in love with a very beautiful girl of the name of Thompson. She was of good family, well educated, spoke the French language with fluency, and played well on the spinette. They exchanged vows and portraits, and he returned to France with his young lord.

No sooner had he arrived than he received a call from the united churches of Vaux and Royan, and he was settled there by the authority of the synod; and from the very first he was most tenderly beloved by his charge. At the end of a year, he asked and obtained permission to go to London, to fetch her who had all this time held his heart captive, and who was herself faithfully waiting for him. They were married in the year 1628, my father being about twenty-five years of age. They lived together twelve years, and had several children.

In about a year after her death, my father married my mother, Mary Chaillon, of Rue au Roy, a village about a mile and a half distant from the town of Pons, in Saintonge. She was a handsome brunette, twelve years younger than her husband, and had a fortune of four thousand francs. During the life of his first wife, my father had lived in a small, inconvenient, ready-furnished house in the borough of Vaux. After his second marriage, he was persuaded by my mother to purchase a pretty little estate called Jenouille, and the manor of Jaffe near to it; he added some commodious apartments to the house, and made it a very comfortable and desirable residence. I was the youngest child of my parents, and have but little personal recollection of my father, being only eight years old when he died. He was a man of…

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My birth — Lameness — Imitation of my fathers prayers — Meditations upon the heavenly bodies — Sent to school — Disgusted with study — Letter to sister — Mr. de la Bussiere — Admirable preceptor — Eccentric man — Enter college — Take degree of Master of Arts — My mother’s death — Division of property

I have now arrived at the history of my own life, which I shall give more in detail, as being more immediately interesting to you than those which have preceded it; and you will find a tissue of adventures, checquered with extremes of prosperity and adversity, but amidst all its varied joys and sorrows you cannot fail to discern the hand of Almighty God, whose good providence may be distinctly traced watching over me and making all things work together for my ultimate advantage.

I was born at Jenouille, on the 7th April, 1658. The first disaster which befell me proceeded from the carelessness of my nurse; she trusted me to her daughter, a young, and giddy girl, who played with me, tossing me in the air and catching me in her arms, until at last she missed, and I fell to the ground and broke my leg. The nurse, afraid to inform my parents, took me to an ignoramus of a surgeon, who pronounced that no harm had been done. The result to me has been lameness for life, my right leg being shorter, thinner, and much weaker than the other. I inherited something of the family beauty of face, and was of a very lively and inventive turn. When only four years old, I was so taken with my father’s reading of the Scriptures, and praying with the family, that I had a fancy to imitate him, and calling together the servants and my sisters, I made them kneel down while I prayed. They gave my father such an account that he had a curiosity to be present also; I would not proceed unless he knelt down with the rest; and my mother has since told me that he was much affected by the earnestness of my manner, and discovering, as he thought, the germ of future talent and piety, he himself prayed heartily to God to preserve and bless one who evinced a zeal unusual among children. I was younger by seven years than any of my brothers and sisters, and this circumstance occasioned my being left much to myself, and I used to reflect a great deal; and some of my meditations in childhood being a little remarkable, I will not pass them by. You must bear in mind that my knowledge was derived from no book save the Holy Scriptures, which I hear my father read daily. I beheld the…

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Study with Mr. Forestier — His persecutions — His wife’s firmness — Return home — Pray with neighbors — Leave the neighbourhood at Easter — Poor people assemble in the woods — A spy watches them — Warrants issued — A mason taken up — He recants — His repentance — My return home — Warrant against me — Determine to remain and wait the issue — Grand Provost and archers appear — Conducted to prison — Obtain permission to pray night and morning in prison

Having made all necessary arrangements for the management of my property. I went to my brother-in-law Mr. Forestier who was a minister at St. Mesme in Anguomois to prosecute my theological studies, for I had now no other wish than to devote to the glory of God all the talents he had bestowed upon me.

While I was at Mr. Forestier’s, a complaint was made that he had received a papist into the communion of the Protestant Church, contrary to the King’s edict. Upon this accusation, he was taken to prison on horseback with his legs tied under the horse’s belly. If you had but seen the papists of Augouleme collected on the road, in such numbers that I may say they were literally piled up, and they were uttering the most horrid maledictions and throwing stones at him and at us who accompanied him to the prison door; I say, if you had seen them, you would have supposed the prisoner had murdered his father, committed violence on his mother, or attempted the life of the King. Oh my God! to what a horrid pitch of barbarity does the blind zeal of superstition and idolatry carry mankind!

My sister was throughout her trials resigned to His will, who she felt assured, in His infinite wisdom ordered all for the best. After a tedious imprisonment Mr. Forestier appealed to the parliament* of Paris. and was acquitted. The Church of St. Mesme being condemned, he was removed by order of the Synod to Coses in Saintonge, and though it is rather anticipating events, I think I had better finish at once the history of his labours in the ministry, before returning to my own life. The church at Coses having been condemned, the papists in the neighborhood wished to put a stop to…

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Provost and archers make another tour — Firmness of the poor country people — Twenty brought to prison — Supplied with necessaries by Protestants of Saintes — Attempt to shake their faith — Precaution in anticipation of separation — Indictment against me — Confrontation — Recollement — Examination of witnesses — Agoust — Two criminals — Gaoler — Gaoler’s wife — Apply to the seneschal for enlargement — Accusation of King’s advocate — Placed in a dungeon — Removed to the Town Hall — Proposal to regain freedom by bribery

When I had been in prison about ten days, the Provost and his Archersset out upon another circuit, and my idea was correct that the country people would no longer flee. They had warning time enough for the timid to retreat to the woods, but more than one hundred and fifty persons met the Provost, and accosted him with the utmost intrepidity, saying: “we have all attended these holy meetings and prayed to God in the woods, and we are ready to justify our conduct.” The number who came forward being much greater than those against whom he had warrants, an examination commenced, and those whose names were not on the list were put on one side; after this was done, the remainder was still too large, (the prisons being already filled with Papists who were commited for real crimes,) and the Provost said he would only take twenty. A holy strife then arose amongst these followers of the Lord as to who should be of the number. The Archers were thunderstruck at the scene they beheld. “What are you about?” said they. “Do you set no value upon life? What fury urges you to the gallows? Think for a moment of your wives and children! what will become of them?” They tried every expedient to intimidate them, and swore by all that was sacred that they would only leave the prison for the rack, the gibbet, or at any rate the galleys. They adduced numerous instances of such and such persons, who, for similar offences, had been hanged, broken on the wheel, &c. These words acted upon them like wind upon fire, the more furious and violent were the Archers, the more was the zeal of the people kindled.

At length, by a refinement of cruelty, the Provost determined to leave behind those most anxious to go, and to select those to take with him who appeared least eager.

They were bound together two and two as dogs are coupled for hunting, and fastened to the horse’s tails. These poor countrymen betrayed no apprehension, they bade adieu to their wives and children with dry eyes, and the wives themselves, having put their hands to the plough, saw their husbands depart without a murmur, trusting in Him who has promised to be a husband to the widow, and a father to the fatherless.

It was certainly not more than half an hour after their arrival at the prison, when ten beds with all complete and an abundant supper were sent to them; and it deserves to be recorded, that during the…

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Trial before the Presidency — A digression — My defence — Angry discussion with the President — Query — My reply — Sentence

The month of August had come round by the time that the process was read; to be brought before the Presidency in the Hall of Justice.

In this court the prisoner is not allowed to have an advocate to plead for him, but has to appear alone. The door is locked and guarded by Archers. The President sits in the centre, the Judges or Counsellors on each side, the Register remains in the lower part of the Hall, and the prisoner is usually seated near him on a three legged wooden stool, as a mark of disgrace. There is a saying in France, “he has sat upon the stool,” which is tantamount to the English phrase, “I have seen him hold up his hand at the bar.”

The testimony recorded in the confrontation is read to the accused, and he is asked if it be correct, and if the signature attached to it be his. The Judges then examine him more fully, and if it be a case admitting of appeal to Parliament, the answers are recorded. The examination finished, the accused is taken back to prison, and the sentence of the court, in writing is sent to him by a sheriff’s officer.

In preparing myself, I thought much more of my poor neighbours than of myself; because I was really innocent of the charge in the indictment, they were not; and without the assistance of an advocate I was somewhat apprehensive about them, and I determined, if I had an opportunity, to say something that might be useful, either in softening the hearts of the Judges, or alarming their consciences. as might appear most expedient when the time came. I prayed most fervently to God for his assistance.

I will make a digression here, which you will presently perceive is not altogether irrelevant to the subject. My apartment under the Town Clock looked into the court yard of one of my Judges. He was a very passionate man and addicted to gambling though said to be an able jurist. Two or three days before my trial I was awakened out of my sound sleep at midnight, by this man swearing and making the most horrible noises; he had just returned home after…

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Appeal to Parliament — Copy of factum — President’s observation upon it — Sentence reverse — Register refuses copy of the decree — Apply for redress — Return home

The Parliament of Bourdeaux, or rather of Guienne, then held its sittings at La Reolle; and by its order we were removed to the prison of that town, which was so full that the gaoler, contented with his entrance fee, allowed us to go and come on “parole” as we pleased. This was very advantageous to me, giving me the opportunity of making personal application to Parliament, proving my own innocence, and exposing the injustice of the Presidency of Saintes, which I hoped to exhibit in its true colours.

I had my factum printed, of which the following is a true and faithful copy. “FACTUM.”

“James Fontaine is accused of two things. The one of being found in the assemblies held in the wood of Chatelars near Royan, and the other of having been heard praying to God, in the prison of Saintes. With regard to the first accusation, it is based upon the testimony of only one witness, named Agoust, who made affidavit to having seen him at the distance of one hundred paces from his own house, and two hundred paces from the place where the assemblies were said to have been held. At the confrontation this witness admitted that he only thought he had seen him from a window, and that too, in the dusk of the evening, at a distance of three or four hundred paces; and upon the strength of such testimony as this, the said Fontaine has been confined four months in the prisons of Saintes, which are extremely rude in their accommodations. The charge of praying to God rested upon the evidence of four witnesses, who contradicted themselves upon cross-examination, and it appeared that the said Fontaine merely knelt down in a corner of the prison, and spoke in so low a tone that the gaoler’s wife, after acknowledging that she passed within one pace of him when he was kneeling down, was not able to repeat a single word of what he had said. After the breviate of the case was completed, the Seneschal in the most extraordinary manner refused to judge, and the said Fontaine was obliged to take legal steps in consequence; and after four months delay, the Attorney general’s deputy, recognising the…

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Persecution of 1685 — Meeting of ministers and elders — My opinion opposed to the majority — Meeting of Protestants at Royan — Mr. Certani dissuades numbers from emigration — Interview with him — Gloomy forebodings — Departure of many persons — Dragoons appear — Leave home — Visit sisters — Traverse the country — Place betrothed in safety

The year 1685 opened with a bitter spirit of persecution, far beyond all that had proceeded it. There was no longer the slightest semblance of justice in the forms of proceeding, the dragoons ravaged and pillaged without mercy, resembling in their progress a lawless and victorious army in an enemy’s country. In the history of past ages we look in vain for any record of such cruelties as they inflicted upon the unoffending and unresisting Huguenots. They were accountable to nobody, for their acts, each dragoon was a sovereign judge and an executioner, and he who had ingenuity enough to invent any new species of torture was sure of applause, and even reward for his discovery.

Early in the year I received an invitation to attend a meeting of Ministers and Elders to consult upon what ought to be done at the present crisis. The number assembled was about twenty five. As I was only a Candidate and not a Minister, I had no right to be present, still less to give an opinion at such a meeting, but my deportment in prison had gained me so much reputation, that young as I was, the Ministers requested me to give them my views.

I pointed out to them the error I thought they had been guilty of, in preaching as they did, the doctrine of non- resistance from their pulpits, and I added that it appeared to me that our quiet submission to all the King’s grievous Declarations had encouraged him to go on. Obedience to one edict only paved the way to…

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Revocation of Edict of Nantes — Preparations for flight — Difficulties and dangers — Land in England — Cheap bread — Speculate in grain — Cruelty of a ship Captain

In the month of October, 1685, the Edict of Nantes* was actually revoked. Of course there was no choice left, flight was the only alternative, and I went to Marennes to make preparations in good earnest, and was fortunate in finding an English Captain with whom I was able to make a bargain. He agreed to take me, and four or five persons in addition, at the rate of ten pistoles each, and we were to assemble at Tremblade for embarkation. I went immediately to fetch your dear mother, her sister Elizabeth, and my niece Janette Forestier; the latter was my god-daughter and course I felt it incumbent upon me to provide for her safety. I mentioned our project to some few persons who I thought would gladly have availed themselves of it, but their fear was stronger than their hope, and they dared not venture to encounter so many dangers, the Coast being carefully guarded both by sea and land to prevent emigration. We lodged at the house of a drunkard in Tremblade, who being able to speak the English language was to be our pilot. His imprudence and drunkenness combined made our position one of great danger while under his roof. After several days of cruel suspense, the Captain desired us to be in readiness on the next, and told us that he intended to pass between the Isle of Oleron and the main land, and that if we would be on the sands near the Forrest of Arvert, he would send a boat ashore for us.

“Surely this act has been incorrectly termed the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. All its provisions had been repealed long ago by royal edicts and ordinances, except the bare toleration of Protestantism in some few towns and districts. The edict of 22d. October 1685 forbade all exercise of the reformed religion, ordered the clergy to…

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Singular proposal from a lady — Marriage — Mode of living — Remove to Bridgwater — Assistance from Committee — Why discontinued — Application for relief — Unkind treatment — Receive Holy Orders — Attempt to recover property in France

I have already mentioned that I was hospitably received into the house of a Mr. Downe at Barnstapie; this gentleman was a bachelor of some forty years of age, and he had an unmarried sister living with him, who was about thirty three or thirty-four years old. They were kindness itself, and I was as completely domesticated with them as if I had been a brother. They were in very easy circumstances; the brother was worth £10,000 the sister £3,000. This poor lady unfortunately took a great fancy to me, and she persuaded herself that it would be an excellent thing for me to marry her and her brother to marry my intended. I should have imagined that she would have had no difficulty in persuading her brother to fall in love; for in those days your dear mother was very beautiful, her skin was delicately fair, she had a brilliant color in her cheeks, high forehead and a remarkably intellectual expression of countenance, her bust was fine, rather inclined to enbonpoint, and she had a very dignified carriage which some thought haughty, but to me it appeared truly becoming in one of her beauty; altogether she seemed fitted to captivate the most indifferent, yet, I am very sure, notwithstanding all her charms (and those of her person were an index of her mind) that Mr. Downe only consented to court her in order to oblige his sister.

Miss Downe opened her project to me one day, by observing that she thought we must be two fools to think of marrying with no better prospect than beggary for our portion. I took no notice of what she said, but she persevered, and frequently gave me broad hints that I might do much better for myself. I was determined not to understand her, and our languages being different I was able to appear ignorant of her views, until one day her brother happened to…

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Remove to Taunton — Keep a shop — Manufactory — Very prosperous — Summoned before the Mayor — Defence — Recorder’s speech — Discharge

I removed to Taunton for the purpose of teaching the French language, finding that I could obtain some pupils there. Our plan was to keep a shop also, and we were in great hopes that with both together we should be able to pay our way.

I borrowed £100 from a friend. I found the wholesale dealers in Bristol and Exeter very accommodating in the credits they granted me. As fast as I sold the goods I paid for them, and I was then allowed to take a fresh supply on credit; and in this way we gradually increased in our dealings until we had a stock of one thing or other to the amount of £400.

About this time two Frenchmen called upon me whom I had known in great distress in Bridgewater, and I had there solicited charity for them, at the same time advising them to learn a trade so as to make themselves independent for the future; and I had suggested their binding themselves to some of the French manufacturers of light stuffs in Bristol, and assured them they would have to ask charity no more.

They had taken my advice, and at the end of two years they visited me expressly to return their thanks. I did not recognise them; the rags and tatters in which they had formerly appeared had given place to decent and respectable clothing. They told me they were the…

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Revolution of 1688 — Landing of the Dutch — Unexpected visitor — Soldiers billeted upon me — Retire from business — Endeavour to make calimancoes — Profit upon them — Instruct a crippled weaver — Secret discovered — Visit Dublin and Cork — Shipwreck — Place sons in Holland — Increase of family

A short time after the prosecution related in the last chapter, the glorious Revolution of 1688 commenced. I felt very anxious about the effect it might have upon the welfare of me and mine. I had a vivid recollection of the end of the Monmouth rebellion, for they were still hanging and quartering when I landed in England.

The Prince of Orange was welcomed at Exeter by the same party that had declared for Monmouth. Three sorry-looking Dutchmen took possession of Taunton without the slightest show of resistance from any quarter; and the common people hailed their arrival as a joyous event.

The Mayor and Aldermen, who were most decided Jacobites, held aloof to watch the issue, contenting themselves with noting down all persons who appeared to favour the Dutch, expecting to have them hanged after a while, as those had been who joined the Duke of Monmouth.

I felt certain that whichever side I might espouse, my name would have a prominent place in the list of culprits, and I was the more convinced of this from the story that was propagated about me.

On the arrival of a company of soldiers at Taunton, they were informed that there was a French Jesuit in the place, who said mass in his house every Sunday. It so happened that the Captain of this company was a French Refugee, who had settled in Holland, and entered the army of the Prince of Orange; he determined to be the first to seize the French Jesuit, and being directed to my house, he was before the door with a guard of soldiers at so early an hour, that none of the family were stirring except a female domestic who was a Frenchwoman. From her the Captain enquired who lived in that house.

She replied — “Mr. Fontaine, a minister from Royan, lives here.”

The Captain immediately desired her to go to my room and and tell me that Captain Rabainieres was below, anxious to embrace me. I only waited long enough to put on my robe de chambre, and went down to welcome this dear friend who had lived within four or five miles of my residence in France. We embraced each other with the…

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Arrival at Cork — Enter upon pastoral duties — Manufactory — Great happiness — Dissension in the church — Resignation — Copy of certificate — Remarkable warning by a dream — Visit fishing stations — Death of Aaron — Turn fisherman — Remove to Bear Haven — Loss of the Robert — Bad season — Trading voyage — Success in fishing — Loss by mismanagement of partners — Troublesome Irish neighbours

We landed in safety at Cork on the 24th December 1694, and the agreement I had entered into with the congregation was solemnly renewed. You may see the particulars in the act of the Consistory of Cork dated 19 January, 1695, on which day I commenced the discharge of my pastoral duties.

At first I preached at Christ Church, the use of it being granted to us after the English had finished the services of the day; then we assembled in the County Court room for our worship, and finally, I gave up, for the use of the Church, a spacious apartment on the lower floor of my house, and we had it regularly fitted up with pulpit, benches, and every thing necessary.

My manufactory here was altogether different from that which I had carried on at Taunton. I considered it best to make something for which there would be a demand near home. Coarse baize was the great article of manufacture in this place, but I determined to try my skill in something of better quality, and I succeeded in making good broad-cloth for which it was only necessary to use finer wool and weave it closer and tighter. I built a dye house for my own use at the edge of the river for the convenience of pumping up the water. A dyer in the city applied for permission to use my apparatus, which I granted on the condition that he dyed all my worsteds and cloths without charge, and made me a…

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Attacked by a French Privateer — Defence — Letter to the Duke of Ormond — Ammunition furnished by government — Build a small fort — Visit Dublin — London — Obtain a pension — Copy of warrant — Return home

Early in the morning of the first day of June 1704, a French privateer hove in sight, she floated gently towards the house in a perfect calm, she had on board four of my Irish neighbours to act as guides, in addition to eighty men of her own. She mounted ten guns. I watched her progress, and thought the intention was to bring her to the south of my house, so that her guns would bear directly upon the front and have full scope at high water. I would prevent this if it were possible, and so I mustered all the men I could find, exactly twenty in number, I gave the Protestants muskets, and the Papists clubs on their shoulders, which made them at a distance look like armed men. I ordered them to follow me and do as I did. We went round the little cove, stooping very low as if we wished to hide ourselves, though in reality I made choice of the highest ground in order that we might certainly be seen from the privateer. I then placed all the men behind a large rock near the shore, while I stood alone on the top of it, within sight of the vessel; I ordered them all to appear on one side of the rock, as if they were peeping out of curiosity, while I was looking the other way; then I turned, and made angry gesticulations as if I were finding fault and striking some of them, and at the…

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Attacked by a second Privateer — Outhouses fired — Breach in the wall — Wounded — Surrender — Carried away as a prisoner — Expostulate with captain — Ransomed — Peter left as a hostage — His deportment

With a constant apprehension of attack before us we lived on the “qui vive,” from the 1st. June 1704 until the 8th. October 1708, when with all our precautions we were actually taken by surprise.

A French Privateer entered the harbour during the night and anchored off Bear Haven, about five miles from our house, and entirely out of sight. At that time a company of soldiers was quartered among the Irish in the Half Barony, and the Captain who commanded them lodged and boarded at my house, but unluckily both he and the Lieutenant happened then to be absent at Bantry, and the Ensign was left in command of the company. He was an imprudent, inexperienced young man, entirely destitute of judgment.

The Privateer hoisted English colors by way of deception, and she succeeded to her wish, for the Ensign no sooner discovered her, than, concluding she was a vessel just arrived from America, he went down with two or three soldiers of his company, in great haste to be the first on board her, in order to regale himself with rum punch, a beverage of which he was unhappily much too fond. He was a prisoner from the instant he set his foot on board the vessel, but the Captain and officers behaved towards him with the greatest civility. He was a little shocked at first, but they made him so welcome, treating him to the best of wine and brandy that he soon lost the remembrance of his situation, and gave the Captain every information he wanted, and it was of a nature to encourage him exceedingly, for he told him that the…

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Affidavit before Magistrates — Retaliation on French prisoners — Removal to Dublin — Hire a haunted house — Claim compensation from the county of Cork — Disturbance in haunted house — School — Education of children — Peter goes to College — John obtains a commission in the army — Moses and Francis enter college — Moses studies law — Emigration to America — Marriage of children — My wife’s death — Failure of health — Conclusion.

Leaving Peter on his cruise, I will return to myself. As soon as I was well enough to get on horseback, I rode over to Kinsale with my son James, and two of the servants, and waited upon the chief magistrate to make an affidavit before him, to the effect that after capitulating upon terms, with the express stipulation that we should have life and liberty, I had been forcibly carried away as a prisoner, and had only been released on the payment of £30, and leaving one of my sons as a hostage for the payment of other £70.

The governor or commanding officer at Kinsale as a retaliatory measure immediately put all the French officers in irons who had been taken in the war and were stationed there, and he sent a copy of the affidavit to Plymouth where there were numbers of French prisoners, and all of them were also put in irons. You will readily believe that the letters of complaint from Kinsale and Plymouth were very numerous.

By the time the Captain returned to St. Maloes a second time, public feeling was much excited against him, and he was summoned to appear before the Governor of Brest who wished to put him in prison, and even threatened to hang him. He made the most humble apologies, and was set at liberty only upon promising that he would convey Peter immediately to the place from whence he had taken him. Thus he was restored to our arms, and we have never paid the £70.

I went to Dublin with all my family except James, and it is unnecessary to say that we were in miserable plight.

I waited upon General Ingoldsby, one of the Council, and he presented me at once with a warrant for £100, which was the more acceptable as it was altogether unexpected. He had applied for it as soon as he…

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