The secret history of White-Hall, from the restoration of Charles II down to the abdication of the late K. James writ at the request of a noble lord, and conveyed to him in letters, by ̲̲̲late secretary-interpreter to the Marquess of Louvois, who by that means had the perusal of all the private minutes between England and France for many years : the whole consisting of secret memoirs, which have hitherto lain conceal'd, as not being discoverable by any other hand / publish'd from the original papers, by D. Jones, gent.

LETTER XV. (Book 15)

Of the Marquess of Louvois's Letter, autho∣rizing the severe Prosecution of the Reformed. As also an Order by him signed to the same purpose.

My Lord,

I Have made a kind of a Promise to your Lordship, when I writ last, to give you some further explication of the double-dealing of this Court upon the subject-matter of the Edict of the Revocation, and particularly that Article that seemed to contain so much in favour of the Reformed; and such, my Lord, it was, that the very Romanists themselves thought fit to suspend the course of their violent Proceed∣ings against them upon it: And therefore Mon∣sieur the Duke de Noailles, who had receiv'd Orders for the Province of Languedoc, which

that Clause formerly mention'd seem'd to re∣voke, had, upon the perusing of it, recourse to the Delphian Oracle of this Country, for the solution of so great a Difficulty; upon which the Marquess de Louvois, the Gallican Apollo, soon disabused him, and returned to his Que∣stion this decisive Article: I doubt not, but the quartering of a few Troopers more than ordinary upon those few of the Gentry and Commoners, that still remain of the Reformed Religion, will quickly undeceive them, and convince them of the Mistake they have been in concerning the Edict, which Monsieur de Chateauneuf hath drawn up; and His Majesty's Pleasure is, That you would make an explication of the same very severely against all those, who will be the last to make a profession of a Religion that does not please him, and the exercise whereof he hath thought fit to prohibit through all his Dominions. But, my Lord, this is not the only Letter nor Order to this purpose; for I have had the ad∣vantage to see some others to the Officers of the Army and Intendants; importing, That for the further convincing of the incredulous, it was declar'd, those Violences were order'd by the Council; and, in short, the Marquess de Loavois was the principal Author of these cruel Expedients: But, above all the rest, I have privately seen an Order signed by him, where∣in is express'd, That the Copy thereof should be sent to the Marquess de Verac, and which ended with these remarkable words: It is His Majesty's Will and Pleasure, that you make use of the utmost Rigour and Severity against all those who are not willing to become of his Religion; And those who will have the Vain-glory to con∣tinue to the last of the number, must be used and

prest upon to the utmost extremity. I'll leave it to your Lordship's Wisdom and known Sagaci∣ty, to ruminate upon and judge of this Leger∣demain Procedure, and crave leave to acknow∣ledge (tho' it be never out of my mind) the many Favours you have been pleas'd to shew up∣on all occasions to,

My Lord,

Your Honour's, humble servant.

Paris, Decemb. 14. 1685. n. st.