Page:A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury.pdf/18

4 community. Some abjured their religion, for the penalties of nonconformity were cruel; but many thousands of braver spirits, who spurned the offers and defied the threats of Louvois, left France forever and braved exile and poverty for their faith. They brought with them their names, their courage, and their resolve to worship God according to their consciences. In Virginia they could have no grants of land, for all was already occupied. But they had absolute freedom to think, to work, and to worship God in their own way, amidst a people who welcomed and loved them for their fidelity to a common faith.

Amongst these exiles the families of de La Fontaine and Maury, who had borne a prominent part in the resistance offered by the Huguenots of France to the dragonnades of Louvois, arrived in Virginia in 1714. Identified in a common cause and a common misfortune, they were connected by marriage before leaving France, and became still more closely affiliated in Virginia. In 1722 the Reverend James Fontaine wrote his autobiography, when he was sixty four years of age, beginning the record of his family with the birth of his ancestor, Jean de La Fontaine, who was born in the year 1500. This worthy resided in the province of Maine, near the borders of Normandy. He was a staunch supporter of the Protestant Church, and occupied an elevated position at Court. But, having become a convert in about 1535, he was hated on account of his zeal for the pure worship of God, and it was deemed expedient to get rid of so prominent a heretic as soon as possible. Charles IX was then in his minority, and Catherine de Medici held almost unlimited power. Accordingly a band of ruffians was dispatched from the city of Le Mans—in the year 1563—to attack his house at night. He and his wife were foully murdered. "Oh, my children," exclaims the pious biographer, "Let us never forget that the blood of martyrs flows in our veins, and may