in all the Parliaments for the purpose of taking cognizance of the affairs of the Reformers followed close upon the abolition of national synods.

Peter du Bosq, pastor of the church of Caen, an accomplished gentleman and celebrated preacher, was commissioned to set before the king the representations of the Protestants.

Louis XIV.

listened to him kindly.
"That is the finest speaker in my kingdom," he said to his courtiers after the minister's address.

The edict-chambers were, nevertheless, suppressed in 1669; the half and half (_mi partie_) chambers, composed of Reformed and Catholic councillors, underwent the same fate in 1679, and the Protestants found themselves delivered over to the intolerance and religious prejudices of the Parliaments, which were almost everywhere harsher, as regarded them, than the governors and superintendents of provinces.
"It seemed to me, my son," wrote Louis XIV.