England's Debt to the Huguenots [pp. 359-364]

THE LADIES' REPOSITOR T.
settled in waste lands or decayed towns, and
every-where created prosperity and wealth.
This was the case with Sandwich, Norwich,
Dover, Winchlelsea, etc. Men from Anvers and
Bruges established immense woolen factories.
The art of working the metals, that great source
of England's wealth-who would suppose that,
in a great measure, it was taught to the English
by Frenchmen from Belgium? And yet it is
true. It was a colony of religious refugees from
Liege wlho, in their establishment near New castle, introduced the secret of making steel.
Other artisans, skillful in metallurgy, settled at
Sheffield, and obtained the patronage of the
Count of Shrewsbury on condition of their tak ing English apprentices and teaching them the
art. The immediate effect was to give to Shef field wares a reputation whichl they retain to
this day.
Other exiles introduced elsewhere other arts,
for example, lace-making, by French refugees
in Bedfordshire; bone-lace by Flemings in
Devonshire; salt-making and herring-curing by
the same, at various points of the coast. In
horticulture also the refugees were favorably
felt, having established, in the environs of London, excellent gardens, which to this day largely
supply the metropolitan market. The hop, a
plant which the English to-day find so indispensable, was introduced to the soil by Walloon
refugees. Many of the more delicate English
fabrics bear in their names to this day the stamp
of their foreign origin. Thus we have mechlin
lace from Mechlin, duffle from Duffel, the diaper
from Ypres (d'Ypres,) cambric from Cambray,
arras firom Arras, tulle from Tulle, delph-ware
from Delft, etc.
Though it was mainly in the sphere of skilled
industry that the refugees made their influence
felt, their history is also interesting in a religious
point of view. Though not precisely revivalists,
yet by virtue of their unobtrusive piety, their
fidelity to conscience, their regular attendance
on the house of God, they obtained universal
respect, and wrought beneficently, as a quiet
leaven, in the then rude English society. They
uniformly hired or erected a plain chapel for
their simple Calvinistic service, many of which
vere used for more than a century before the
native tongue gave place to the English. These
little Churches were formed not in despite of, but
under the direct sanction of, the English State
clergy. Archbishop Cranmer, the real founder
of the Episcopal Church, seems to have favored
the Tyng rather than the Potter patty of modern Churchmen, as it was under his express
sanction that the first Calvinistic French Church
was formed in London. In I55~ the king issued
royal letters, appointing a general superintend ent of the refugee worship, and setting apart a
State-Church edifice in Austin Friars and an other in Threadneedle-street for their use. At
Sandwich the old church of St. Peter, at Nor wich the Bishop's Chapel, and at Southampton
the church of St. Julian were given to the
strangers. But the most interesting of the ref ugee Churches is that of Canterbury. As early
as i564 a company of exiles came to this city
and began the manufacture of " Florence, serges,
bombazines, Orleans, silk, bayes, mouquade,
and other stuffs." Matthew Parker, Archbishop
of Canterbury, with the royal sanction, assigned
to them the free use of the Under Croft of the
venerable cathedral, in which place "gentle and
profitable strangers," as the liberal prelate
styled them, not only celebrated their worship
and taught their children, but also set up their
looms and carried on their several trades. This
Croft was once a sacred Popishl shrine, and
contained the ashes of Thomas i Becket and
other Church dignitaries. It is of considerable
extent, and served several families for a long
while in the threefold capacity of church, workshop, and dwelling. They remained unmolested in their worship till the times of the
bigoted Laud. But he did not finally succeed
in casting them out. Under the Commonwealth
they numbered more than one thousand weavers.
And this little Croft chapel is one of the few
Huguenot churches that remain to this day,
and in which the French worship has not been
merged into the English. The visitor to the
cathedral has usually pointed out to him the
place used as the Fretch church. It is plainly
fitted up with a pulpit, reading-desk, and pews.
It is a dissenting chapel, though forming part
of the Highl Cathedral of Canterbury. There,
for more than three hundred years, the descendants of the Frenchl exiles have continued to
celebrate their simple Calvinistic rites. The
preaching is still in French, and the psalms are
sung to the old Huguenot tunes, almost within
sound of the High Church services of the Establishled Church. Though numbering at present only about twenty members, the little chapel
is still a touching and significant memorial of
the past.
The promulgation of the Edict of Nantes in
I598 had procured for the French Huguenots a
degree of tranquillity. Under their intelligent
energy various parts of France, and especially
the cities Tours, Lyons, and Nantes, assumed
an unwonted prosperity. Their superiority over
the Catholics was acknowledged even by Papal
officers. "If the merchants of Nimes," wrote
the provincial governor, "are very poor Catholics
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