{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_10864/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_10864","id":"gutenberg_10864","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10864","summary":null,"tags":["Abbaye de la Trappe (Soligny-la-Trappe, France)","Category: History - European","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Travel Writing","France -- Description and travel"],"text":"[Illustration: VIEW of the MONASTERY of LA TRAPPE]\n\n  A VISIT TO THE MONASTERY OF LA TRAPPE\n\n  IN 1817.\n\n  WITH NOTES\n\n  _TAKEN DURING A TOUR THROUGH_\n  LE PERCHE, NORMANDY, BRETAGNE, POITOU, ANJOU,\n  LE BOCAGE, TOURAINE, ORLEANOIS, AND\n  THE ENVIRONS OF PARIS.\n\n  BY\n\n  W.D. FELLOWES, ESQ.\n\n  ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS COLOURED ENGRAVINGS,\n  FROM DRAWINGS MADE ON THE SPOT.\n\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF THE PLATES.\n\n\nView of the Monastery of La Trappe\n\nRuins of the Ancient Church of ditto\n\nRuins of the Gateway of the ancient Chartreuse\n\nLes Noyades (_vignette_)\n\nGrotto of H\u00e9lo\u00efse at Clisson\n\nTomb of Ab\u00e9lard and H\u00e9lo\u00efse\n\nRuins of Ab\u00e9lard's House\n\nGranite Rock in the Garenne\n\nLe Conn\u00e9table de Clisson (_outline_)\n\nRuins of Clisson\n\nTour des P\u00e9lerins\n\nMoulin aux ch\u00eavres\n\nTour d'Oudon on the River Loire\n\nView of St. Florent\n\nTomb (_etching_)\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nIn justice to the public and to myself, I must disavow for the\nfollowing pages any higher literary pretension than what is conveyed\nby the simple title of \"Notes,\" under which I have ventured to give\nthem to the world. I had no other aim in writing but to occupy as\nrationally as I could the hours of travel, and no other object in\npublishing but to impart to others as plainly as I could a portion of\nthe pleasure I myself experienced. It has somewhere been remarked to\nthis effect, that if every man of common understanding were to put\ndown the daily thoughts and occurrences of his life, candidly and\nunaffectedly as he experienced them, he must necessarily produce\nsomething of interest to his fellow men, and make a book, which,\nthough not enlivened by wit, dignified by profundity of reasoning, nor\nvaluable by extent of research, yet no man perhaps should throw aside\nwith either weariness or disgust.\n\nWhether I shall prove fortunate enough not to excite these sensations\nin such readers as may honour my book with a perusal, I fear to\nconjecture. But it was my good fortune, during a season of uncommon\nbeauty, to make a tour through some of the most interesting parts of\nFrance, and to meet with persons who, from situation and talents,\nwere highly calculated to give my journey every charm of society and\ninformation. The natural face of the country through which I passed\nwas peculiarly beautiful: I could scarcely move a step without\nsome novelty of picturesque enchantment, and had the most perfect\nopportunities of contemplating Nature in all her varied poetry, from\nthe grand and terrible graces of savage sublimity, to the soft and\nplayful loveliness of cultivated luxuriance. There was scarcely a\ntown or village where I arrived which romance or history, religion or\npolitics, had not invested and adorned with every interest of mental\nassociation. Under such impressions, and with such opportunities, it\nwas scarcely possible to resist recording something of what I saw and\nfelt; and if the publication of my hasty record be an error, it\nwill be deemed by my friends, I hope, a pardonable one. My book\ncan scarcely demand the serious attention of the critic; nor could\ncriticism well expect a better style from one whose profession is\nseldom supposed to allow much leisure to acquire nicety in the arts of\ncomposition. I claim no other merit for my Notes than having followed\nthe advice (of Gray, I believe) that ten words put down at the moment\nupon the spot, are worth a whole cart load of recollections. I have\nnot sought to add to their attraction (if they should possess any) by\nthe embellishments of my invention, or the graces of my periods--the\ndecorative artifices of execution can never give value to falsehood,\nand truth needs them not. A simple landscape, simply described from\nnature, has always a charm above the most high-finished compositions\nof mere fancy; and, like a moderate painting from the same source,\nstill imparts a feeling of reality. I hope, therefore, I shall be\nexcused for attempting some description, slight and unskilful as it\nmay be, of places and scenery where the human mind has exhibited\nsome of its most curious and powerful features, and which awaken\nreflections of the deepest interest--I allude particularly to the\nmonastery of _La Trappe_, and to the country of _La Vend\u00e9e_. The\nformer had dwelt among the earliest impressions of youth, with\nsomething like the wild and wonderful force of a romantic tale; and I\nwas anxious to become an eye-witness of what had so long been one of\nthe most powerful objects of my imagination. The gloomy and almost\ninaccessible situation chosen by this strange fraternity for\ntheir convent--their rigid separation from human intercourse--the\ninfringible taciturnity imposed upon themselves--and the terrible\nseverity of their penances, are certainly circumstances more\nresembling the visionary indulgence of fantasy and fiction, than\nactual realities to be met with among living men, and in the present\nday.\n\nWith regard to the department of _La Vend\u00e9e_, whatever serves, trivial\nas it may be, to recall or illustrate the history of its wars and the\ncharacter of its inhabitants, must ever possess a charm for those who\ndelight to sympathize with the noble struggles of a gallant people,\nconscientiously devoting themselves to the cause of a fallen and\npersecuted monarchy, and resisting the cruel and destructive ferocity\nof a licentious enemy, who had broken down the most sacred fences of\nsociety, and trampled upon the dearest ties of human nature.\n\nIn these Notes, slight as they are, I can truly promise the reader\nthat he will find nothing wilfully misrepresented, nor advanced\nwithout just authority; and if the rapid and cursory character of the\nobservations, allusions, and anecdotes, shall enable an hour to pass\nagreeably that has no better employment, I am content, and gratified\nwith the attainment of all I ever hoped or designed by an unpretending\npublication, which I cheerfully dedicate to all who love to unbend\ntheir minds from a critical attitude, and can lounge goodnaturedly\nover leaves written by a traveller as idle and careless as themselves,\nand who assures them that no one can think more humbly of his\nproduction than himself.\n\nMARCH 1818.\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nRoute from Paris to Mortagne.--Excursion to La Trappe.--State of the\nOrder since the restoration in 1814.--Its foundation and rules under\nthe Abb\u00e9 de Ranc\u00e9.\n\nCHAP. II.\n\nRuins of the Convent of the Chartreux.--Forests of Le\nPerche.--Mortagne.\n\nCHAP. III.\n\nFrom Mortagne to Rennes.--Soeurs de la Charit\u00e9.--Alen\u00e7on.--Laval.--Vitr\u00e9,\nthe celebrated residence of Mad. de S\u00e9vign\u00e9.\n\nCHAP. IV.\n\nRennes.--Route from Rennes to Nantes.--City of Nantes.--Historical\nanecdotes.\n\nCHAP. V.\n\nCountry south of the Loire.--Le Bocage.--Clisson.--Historical\nanecdotes.--The Garenne, and River S\u00e8vres.\n\nCHAP. VI.\n\nGeneral appearance and limits of Le Bocage.--Nature of the mode of\nwarfare of the Vendeans.\n\nCHAP. VII.\n\nThe River Loire, from Nantes to Angers.\n\nCHAP. VIII.\n\nSaumur to Tours.--Tours to Blois.--Orl\u00e9ans--and Orl\u00e9ans to Paris.\n\nCHAP. IX.\n\nEnvirons of Paris.--P\u00e8re la Chaise.--Castle of Vincennes, and Ch\u00e2teau\nof Saint Germain.--The Forest, and Vicinity.--Conclusion.\n\n\n\n\nA VISIT\n\nTO THE\n\nMONASTERY OF LA TRAPPE\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. I.\n\nROUTE FROM PARIS TO MORTAGNE.--EXCURSION TO LA TRAPPE.--STATE OF THE\nORDER SINCE THE RESTORATION IN 1814.--ITS FOUNDATION AND RULES UNDER\nTHE ABBE DE RANCE.\n\n\nI performed this journey during the months of June, July, August, and\nSeptember, a distance of near one thousand miles, and had the singular\ngood fortune to enjoy the finest weather possible. The perusal of\nMadame de La Roche-Jaquelin's interesting work on the Vendean war,\nfirst gave me the idea of visiting the country called le Bocage, the\ntheatre of so many events, and sufferings of the brave royalists; and,\nas the province of le Perche, in which is situated the ancient convent\nof La Trappe, was in my route to Bretagne, I resolved to make an\nexcursion there, in order to satisfy myself of the truth of those\nausterities which I had read of in the Memoirs of the Count de\nComminge.\n\nThe route from Paris to Mortagne, in le Perche, leads through Marly,\nVersailles, Saint Cyr, Pont Chartrain, La Queue, Houdon, Marrolles,\nDreux, Nonancourt, Tilli\u00e8res, Verneuil, and Saint Maurice. The roads\nare excellent, and the country beautiful. The first post out of Paris\nis Nanterre. Two leagues and a half from the barriere, the village\nof Ruel, and the park of Malmaison, form a continuation of neat\nbuildings. At Nanterre, in the campaign of 1815, the Prussians, after\na severe engagement with the retreating troops of the French, had one\nregiment of cavalry cut to pieces. At Ruel, the celebrated Cardinal\nRichelieu had a palace, which at the Revolution became national\nproperty, and was purchased by Massena, Duc de Rivoli, Prince\nD'Essling, lately deceased. The Duchess still resides there. It was\ntaken possession of by the allies in 1815, and, like Malmaison,\nplundered by the troops. There are extensive barracks for cavalry at\nthis place, at present occupied by the Swiss guards.\n\nA little farther, between Malmaison and Marly, is a beautiful ch\u00e2teau,\nformerly belonging to General Count Bertrand, who accompanied Napoleon\nto Saint Helena; it is now the property of M. Ouverard, the banker:\nnearly opposite is the residence of the celebrated Abb\u00e9 Siey\u00e8s, who\nlives in great retirement. Whatever may have been the political\ntransgressions of Bertrand, there is something so noble in his\ndevotion to the fallen fortunes of his master, that it is impossible\nnot to respect his character.\n\nAt Marly, the water-works and aqueduct for conveying the water from\nthe river Seine to the palace and gardens of Versailles, are very\ncurious. The palace of Marly is destroyed; but the basins, which were\nconstructed by order of Louis XIV. are still to be seen, though in\nruins. Delille, the poet, in his description of the ch\u00e2teau and\nbeautiful grounds of Marly, says:\n\n  C'est l\u00e0 que tout est grand, que l'art n'est point timide;\n  L\u00e0 tout est enchant\u00e9: c'est le Palais d'Armide;\n  C'est le jardin d'Alcine, ou plut\u00f4t d'un H\u00e9ros,\n  Noble dans sa retraite et grand dans son repos.\n  Qui cherche encore \u00e0 vaincre, \u00e0 dompter des obstacles,\n  Et ne marche jamais qu'entour\u00e9 de miracles.\n\nOn quitting Paris, I had procured a letter of introduction from Count\nLa Cou to Madame de Bellou, at Mortagne, a charming old lady of an\nancient and noble family in that province, who had never quitted the\nseat of her ancestors, but remained quiet and respected during all the\nstorms of the revolution. She received me with kindness, and politely\nintroduced me to the Sub-Prefect, Monsieur Lamorelie, who gave me a\nletter of introduction to the P\u00e8re Don Augustin, Grand Prior of La\nTrappe. The mayor of the commune of Soligni\u00e9, who happened to be at\nthe inn, and learned from the _Aubergiste_, that a stranger intended\nvisiting La Trappe, very civilly introduced himself to me, and gave me\nevery necessary direction how to proceed through the forest; at the\nsame time expressing his surprise that an Englishman should take\nthe trouble, and undergo the fatigue of penetrating through such a\ncountry, an attempt which few of his own countrymen had ever ventured\nto make. It was singular enough that only one person in the town could\nbe found to accompany me as a guide, or who knew any thing of\nthe track through the forest, although the abbey is distant only\ntwenty-five miles.\n\nI set out with the guide just at day-break, mounted on a small Norman\nhorse, and armed with pistols and a sword-cane, in case of meeting\nwith wolves, which the mayor of Soligni\u00e9 had cautioned me against, as\nabounding throughout the country. We travelled, after leaving the\nmain road, at the distance of a league, through a country scarcely\nappearing to be inhabited. Here and there a lone cot, a mere speck,\nmet the eye amidst a landscape composed of nothing but barren wastes\nand thick forests, nearly impervious to the light. We had penetrated\nabout half a mile through one of the latter, my attention occupied\nwith the romantic wildness of the scene, when we were alarmed by the\nhowling of a wolf. My guide crossed himself, and began cracking his\nwhip with the noise and singular dexterity peculiar to the French\npostillions; and as we entered a part of the forest, impenetrable but\nfor traces known only to those who are accustomed to them, he related\n(by way of consolation, I suppose,) several stories of the peasantry\nhaving been recently attacked, and some destroyed, by wolves; and one\ninstance of a woman having had her infant torn from her arms, only a\nshort time since, in the neighbourhood.\n\nOn quitting the forest the track was now and then diversified by the\nruins of a solitary cottage, or the mouldering remains of a crucifix,\nraised by pious hands to mark some event, or to guide the traveller;\nand after traversing a rocky plain, covered with heath and wild thyme,\nwhere some herds of sheep and goats were browsing, attended by the\nshepherd, we entered the Forest of Bellegarde. This forest spreads\nover a large extent of country, and is so dark and intricate, that\nthose best acquainted with it frequently lose their way. No vestige of\nhuman footsteps or of the track of animals appeared; a mark, here and\nthere, on some of the trees, was the only direction! Pursuing our way\nthrough turnings and windings the most perplexing, we found ourselves\nto be on the overhanging brow of a hill, the descent of which was so\nprecipitous, that we were under the necessity of dismounting; and by\na winding path, hollowed out in its side, descended through a sort\nof labyrinth towards the valley, whose sides were clothed with lofty\nwoods, rising one above the other. The valley itself is interspersed\nwith three lakes, connected with each other, and forming a sort of\nmoat around the ground; in the centre of which appears the venerable\nabbey of La Trappe, with its dark gray towers, the deep tone of whose\nbell had previously announced to us, that we had nearly reached our\njourney's end.\n\nThe situation of this monastery was well adapted to the founder's\nviews, and to suggest the name it originally received of La Trappe,\nfrom the intricacy of the road which descends to it, and the\ndifficulty of access or egress, which exists even to this day, though\nthe woods have been very much thinned since the revolution. Perhaps\nthere never was any thing in the whole universe better calculated to\ninspire religious awe than the first view of this monastery. It was\nimposing even to breathlessness. The total solitude--the undisturbed\nand chilling silence, which seem to have ever slept over the dark and\nancient woods--the still lakes, reflecting the deep solemnity of the\nobjects around them--all impress a powerful image of utter seclusion\nand hopeless separation from living man, and appear formed at once to\ncourt and gratify the sternest austerities of devotion--to nurse\nthe fanaticism of diseased imaginations--to humour the wildest\nfancies--and promote the gloomiest schemes of penance and privation!\n\nIn descending the steep and intricate path the traveller frequently\nloses sight of the abbey, until he has actually reached the bottom;\nthen emerging from the wood, the following inscription is seen carved\non a wooden cross:\n\n  C'est ici que la mort et que la v\u00e9rit\u00e9\n  El\u00e8vent leurs flambeaux terribles;\n  C'est de cette demeure, au monde inaccessible,\n  Que l'on passe \u00e0 l'\u00e9ternit\u00e9.\n\nA venerable grove of oak trees, which formerly surrounded the\nmonastery, was cut down in the revolution. In the gateway of the outer\ncourt is a statue of Saint Bernard, which has been mutilated by the\nrepublicans: he is holding in one hand a church, and in the other a\nspade--the emblems of devotion and labour. This gateway leads into a\ncourt, which opens into a second enclosure, and around that are the\ngranaries, stables, bakehouse, and other offices necessary to the\nabbey, which have all been happily preserved.\n\nOwing to the fatigue of the journey, the heat of the weather, and\nhaving frequently been obliged to retrace our steps, from losing our\nway in the woods, it was late before we arrived at the abbey. To the\nwest, under the glow of the setting sun, the forests were still tinged\nwith the warmest yet softest colours that faded fast away; and as we\ndescended towards the Convent, quickening our pace to reach it before\nthe last gleams of evening departed, there was a silence around us,\nwhich at such a moment, and in such a spot, sunk sorrowfully upon the\nheart! Just as I reached the gate the bell tolled in so solemn and\nmelancholy a tone that it vibrated through my whole frame, and called\nstrongly to mind the beautiful lines in \"Parisina\":\n\n  The Convent bells are ringing,\n  But mournfully and slow;\n  In the gray square turret swinging,\n  With a deep sound, to and fro,\n  Heavily to the heart they go!\n\nOn entering the gate, a lay-brother received me on his knees; and in\na low and whispering voice informed me they were at vespers. The\nstillness and gloom of the building--the last rays of the sun scarcely\npenetrating through its windows--the deep tones of the monks chanting\nthe responses, which occasionally broke the silence, filled me with\nreverential emotions which I felt unwilling to disturb: it was\nnecessary however to present my letter of introduction, and Fr\u00e8re\nCharle, the secr\u00e9taire, soon after came out, and received me with\ngreat civility. He appeared a young man about five-and-twenty, with a\nhandsome and prepossessing countenance. He informed me that the P\u00e8re\nAbb\u00e9 was then absent, visiting a convent of Female Trappistes, a\nfew leagues distant, but that he should be happy to show me every\nattention; and requested that in going over the Convent, I would\nneither speak nor ask him any questions in those places where I saw\nhim kneel, or in the presence of any of the Monks. I followed him to\nthe chapel, where, as soon as the service was over, the bell rung\nto summon them to supper. Ranged in double rows, with their heads\nenveloped in a large cowl, and bent down to the earth, they chanted\nthe grace, and then seated themselves. During the repast one of them,\nstanding, read passages from scripture, reminding them of death, and\nof the shortness of human existence; another went round the whole\ncommunity, and on his knees kissed their feet in succession, throwing\nhimself prostrate on the floor at intervals before the image of our\nSaviour; a third remained on his knees the whole time, and in that\nattitude took his repast. These penitents had committed some fault,\nor neglected their religious duties, of which, according to the\nregulations, they had accused themselves, and were in consequence\ndoomed to the above modes of penance.\n\nThe refectory was furnished with long wooden tables and benches; each\nperson was provided with a trencher, a jug of water, and a cup, having\non it the name of the brother to whom it is appropriated, as Fr\u00e8re\nPaul, Fr\u00e8re Fran\u00e7ois, &c. which name they assume on taking the vow.\nTheir supper consisted of bread soaked in water, a little salt, and\ntwo raw carrots, placed by each; water alone is their beverage. The\ndinner is varied with a little cabbage or other vegetables: they very\nrarely have cheese, and never meat, fish, or eggs. The bread is of the\ncoarsest kind possible.\n\nTheir bed is a small truckle, boarded, with a single covering,\ngenerally a blanket, no mattress nor pillow; and, as in the former\ntime, no fire is allowed but one in the great hall, which they never\napproach.\n\nWithin these three years a small cabaret has been built near the\nConvent for the accommodation of those who may occasionally visit it,\nthe buildings that remain being but barely sufficient for their own\nmembers, which have been rapidly increasing since its restoration. In\nthis cabaret I took up my abode for the night, in preference to the\naccommodation very kindly offered me by Fr\u00e8re Charle, and retired to\nrest, wearied with the day's excursion, and fully satisfied, that all\nI had heard, all I had imagined of La Trappe, was infinitely short of\nthe reality, and that no adequate description could be given of its\nawful and dreary solitude;\n\nMonsieur Elz\u00e9ar de Sabran, in a poem called Le Repentir, lately\npublished, describing this Monastery, says very justly;\n\n  T\u00e9moins d'une commune et secr\u00e8te souffrance,\n  Ces fr\u00e8res de douleur, martyrs de l'esp\u00e9rance,\n  D'une lente torture \u00e9puisant les degr\u00e9s,\n  Constamment r\u00e9unis, constamment s\u00e9par\u00e9s,\n  L'un \u00e0 l'autre \u00e9trangers, \u00e0 c\u00f4t\u00e9 l'un de l'autre,\n  Joignent tout ce malheur encore \u00e0 tout le n\u00f4tre,\n  Jamais, dans ses pareils cherchant un tendre appui,\n  Un coeur ne s'ouvre aux coeurs qui souffrent comme lui.\n\nThe following morning the matin bell summoned me to the Convent,\nand Fr\u00e8re Charle attended me to the burial ground; here have been\ndeposited the remains of two of the brothers, deceased since the\nrestoration of their order in 1814. Another grave was ready prepared;\nas soon as an interment takes place, one being always opened for the\nnext that may die. The two graves were marked with simple wooden\ncrosses, bearing the following inscriptions:\n\n  F. Nicolas. Fr\u00e8re DONN\u00c9\n  D\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9. le 24 F\u00e9vrier 1816.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn the other:\n\n  F. AUGUSTINUS. NOVITIUS\n  die 26 mensis novembris\n  ANNO. 1816 DECESSIT.\n  REQUIESCAT IN PACE\n  AMEN.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the centre of the cemetery is the grave of M. De Ranc\u00e9. His\nmonument, with his figure carved at full length in a recumbent\nposture, was removed when the destruction of the old church took\nplace; it is now a complete ruin, and a few stones alone mark the spot\nof its ancient founder's grave, which is kept free from weeds with\npious reverence and care. The revolution, which like a torrent swept\nall before it, did not even spare the dead.\n\n[Illustration: RUINS of the ANCIENT CHURCH of LA TRAPPE.]\n\nWhile I was contemplating the ruins around me, and watching the\nmotions of a venerable figure in silent prayer at one of the angles,\nthe bell tolled, when both Fr\u00e8re Charle and the Monk dropped instantly\non their knees. How forcibly were the following lines of Pope recalled\nto my mind!\n\n  Lo, the struck deer, in some sequester'd part,\n  Lies down to die, (the arrow in his heart;)\n  There, hid in shades, and wasting day by day,\n  Inly he bleeds, and pants his soul away.\n\nThe number of Monks who have taken the vow are not in proportion to\nthe others, who are lay brothers, and _Fr\u00e8res Donn\u00e9s_; in all there\nare about one hundred, besides novices, who are principally composed\nof boys, and who do not wear the same habit. The Trappistes, who\ncompose the first order, are clothed in dark brown, with brown mantle\nand hood; the others are in white, with brown mantle and hood.\nI occasionally caught a glimpse of their faces, but it was only\nmomentarily; and I can easily believe, with their perpetual silence,\nthat two people well known to each other, might inhabit the same spot,\nwithout ever being aware of it, so completely are their faces hidden\nby their large cowl. The Trappistes, or first order, are distinguished\nby the appellation of _Fr\u00e8res Convers_, the others by that of\n_Religieux de Coeur_.\n\nThe hardships undergone by these monks appear almost insupportable\nto human nature, and notwithstanding the immense number of deaths\noccasioned by their rigorous austerities, the C\u00e9nobites of La Trappe,\nat the suppression of their order, amounted to one hundred monks,\nsixty-nine lay brothers, and fifty-six _Fr\u00e8res Donn\u00e9s_. The inmates\nare classed under these three heads; but the lay brothers, who take\nthe same vows, and follow the same rules, are principally employed as\nservants, and in transacting the temporal concerns of the abbey. The\n_Fr\u00e8res Donn\u00e9s_ are brothers given for a time; these last are not\nproperly belonging to the order, they are rather, religious persons,\nwhose business or connexions prevent their joining the order\nabsolutely, but, who wishing to renew serious impressions, or to\nretire from the world for a given period, come here and conform\nstrictly to the regulations while they remain, without wishing to join\nthe order for life. Many persons on their first conversion, or after\nsome peculiar dispensations of Providence, retire here for a season.\n\nIn the refectory I observed a board hung up, with \"_Table pour\nl'Office Divin_,\" written over it, and under it the regulations or\norder of service to be performed for that week, which are occasionally\nvaried, but never diminished in their rigour. Fr\u00e8re Charle said,\nthat the whole were strictly observed, and were frequently much more\nsevere; for the P\u00e8re Abb\u00e9 had instituted more austere regulations\nthan formerly, with the only one exception, of the sick being allowed\nmedicines; and, in cases of great debility, a small quantity of meat.\n\nThe Table \"_pour l'Office Divin_,\" was as follows.\n\n  Dimanche....12 Le\u00e7ons et Communion.\n  Lundi....... 3 Le\u00e7ons.\n  Mardi.......12 Le\u00e7ons--\u00e0 jeun--Travail.\n  Mercredi....12 Le\u00e7ons.\n  Jeudi....... 3 Le\u00e7ons.\n  Vendredi....12 Le\u00e7ons--\u00e0 jeun--Travail.\n  Samedi......12 Le\u00e7ons--\u00e0 jeun--Travail.\n\nTheir mode of life and regulations exist nearly in the same state\nas established by the founder; in reciting them, such horrible\nperversions of human nature and reason make it almost difficult to\nbelieve the existence of so severe an order, and lead us to wonder\nat the artificial miseries, which the ingenuity of pious but morbid\nenthusiasm can inflict upon itself. The abstinence practised at La\nTrappe allows not the use of meat, fish, eggs, or butter; and a very\nlimited quantity of bread and vegetables. They only eat twice a\nday; which meals consist of a slender repast at about eleven in the\nmorning, and two ounces of bread and two raw carrots in the evening:\nboth together do not at any time exceed twelve ounces. The same spirit\nof mortification is observable in their cells, which are very small,\nand have no other furniture than a bed of boards, a human skull, and a\nfew religious books.\n\nSilence is at all times rigidly maintained; conversation is never\npermitted: should two of them even be seen standing near each other,\nthough pursuing their daily labour, and preserving the strictest\nsilence, it is considered as a violation of their vow, and highly\ncriminal; each member is therefore as completely insulated as if he\nalone existed in the Monastery. None but the P\u00e8re Abb\u00e9 knows the name,\nage, rank, or even the native country of any member of the community:\nevery one, at his first entrance, assumes another name, as I before\nobserved, and with his former appellation, each is supposed to abjure,\nnot only the world, but every recollection and memorial of himself and\nconnexions: no word ever escapes from his lips by which the others can\npossibly guess who he is, or where he comes from; and persons of the\nsame name, family, and neighbourhood, have often lived together in the\nConvent for years, unknown to each other, without having suspected\ntheir proximity.\n\nThe abstraction of mind practised at La Trappe, and the prevention of\nall external communication with the world is such, that few but the\nsuperior know any thing of what is passing in it. It has been related,\nthat so little information of the affairs of mankind did these people\nreceive, that the death of Louis XIV. was not known there for years,\nexcept by the Father Abb\u00e9; and such was their state of seclusion, that\na Nobleman having taken a journey of five hundred miles, purposely to\nsee the Monastery, could scarcely find in the neighbouring villages\none person who knew where it was situated. Indeed, at the present day,\nit is quite astonishing how little is known of this place, and how\nvery few, even among those in its immediate vicinity, have ever\nvisited it.[1]\n\nOn the great festivals they rise at midnight; otherwise they are not\ncalled until three quarters past one: at two they assemble in the\nChapel, where they perform different services, public and private,\nuntil seven in the morning, according to the regulations of the week,\nas exemplified in the \"_Table pour l'Office Divin_\". At this hour they\ngo out to labour in the open air. Their work is of the most fatiguing\nkind, is never intermitted, winter or summer, and admits of no\nrelaxation from the state of the weather.\n\n[Footnote 1: Among the most frequent visitors of La Trappe, was\nthe unfortunate James the Second. His first visit was on the 20th\nNovember, 1690, where he was received by M. de Ranc\u00e9, whose account of\nit is very interesting.]\n\nWhen their labour is over, they go into Chapel for a short time, until\neleven o'clock, the hour of repast; at a quarter after eleven they\nread till noon; and afterwards lie down to rest for an hour: they are\nthen summoned into the garden, where they again work until three;\nthen read again for three quarters of an hour, and retire for another\nquarter to their private meditations, by way of preparation for\nvespers, which begin at four, and end at six; at seven they again\nenter the Chapel, and at eight they leave it, and retire to rest.\n\nAt the hour of their first repast, I again attended Fr\u00e8re Charle to\nthe eating-room, where nearly the same forms were observed as at their\nevening-meal; a small basin of boiled cabbage, two raw carrots, and\na small piece of black bread, with a jug of water, constituted their\nsolitary meal. A Monk, during the whole time, read sentences from\nScripture; and a small hand-bell filled up the intervals of his\nsilence, and proclaimed a cessation from eating, or movement of\nany sort. Over the door of the Refectory I observed the following\ninscription in Latin:--\"Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is,\nthan a stalled ox, and hatred therewith\".\n\nFr\u00e8re Charle invited me to partake of the frugal fare of his order. He\nsaid, \"You will forgive my laying before you a vegetable repast; it\nis all that I have in my power to offer you, but you will confer a\npleasure by accepting it\". It was impossible to refuse, for I felt I\nshould appear ungrateful after the attentions that had been shown me,\nif I had. Fr\u00e8re Charle conducted me into an apartment, in which I was\ngratified to observe a well executed portrait of the Abb\u00e9 de Ranc\u00e9,\nwhich, at the destruction of the Monastery, had been preserved by the\nsurgeon of the ancient fraternity, who continued to reside there until\nthe period of his death, four or five years since. This person was\ngreatly respected by all the people round the country, and resorted\nto by all who sought relief either from sickness or misery!--Had the\nother brothers followed his example of remaining, in all probability\ntheir Convent might have been spared, for the accumulation of wealth\ncould not be laid to their charge; and as their monastic vows obliged\nthem to remain within the Monastery, they were most unlikely to incur\nthe suspicion of any political intrigues.--How indeed could men, whose\nwhole existence was passed in solitude and penance, and who never\nconversed even among themselves, have been dangerous to those\nturbulent spirits who had overturned the government and all the\nreligious institutions of their country!\n\nIn the portrait, the Abb\u00e9 is dressed in the habit of the order, a\nwhite gown and hood, and sitting with a book before him, in which he\nappears to be writing; on the same table, before him, are a crucifix\nand a skull. The following inscription is painted in one corner by the\nartist:\n\n  \"ARM'D. LE BOUTTHILLIER DE RANCE. S'R\n  SCAUANT. et c\u00e9l\u00e8bre Abb\u00e9 R\u00e9formateur De La Trappe.\n  Mort en 1700. \u00e0 pr\u00e8s de 77 ans, et de 40 ans de la plus\n  aust\u00e8re p\u00e9nitence\".\n\nThe Monastery of La Trappe is one of the most ancient Abbeys of the\norder of Benedictins: it was established under the pontificate of\nInnocent the Second, during the reign of Louis VII. in the year 1140,\nby Rotrou, the second Count of Perche, and is said to have been built\nto accomplish a vow, made in the peril of shipwreck. In commemoration\nof this circumstance, the roof was made in the shape of the bottom of\na ship inverted. It was founded under the auspices of Saint Bernard,\nthe first Abbot of Clairvaux, the celebrated preacher in favour of\nthe Crusades. Many ages, however, had elapsed, since its first\ninstitution, when the Father Abbot de Ranc\u00e9, the celebrated reformer\nof his time, determined to become a member, whose singular history and\nconversion was the subject of a poem by Monsieur Barthe.\n\nThe Abb\u00e9 de Ranc\u00e9 became a Monk of the Benedictin order of La Trappe,\nin 1660, and his conversion was attributed to a lady whom he tenderly\nloved. They had been separated for some time by her parents; she\nhaving written to him to remove her for the purpose of becoming united\nin marriage, he set off, but, during his journey, she was seized with\na fever and died. Totally ignorant of the circumstance, he approached\nthe house under cover of the night, and got into her apartment through\nthe window. The first object he beheld was the coffin which contained\nthe body of his beloved mistress! It had been made of lead, but being\nfound to be too short, they had, with unheard of brutality; severed\nher head from her body! Horror-struck with the shocking spectacle, he,\nfrom that hour, renounced all connexion with the world, and imposed\nupon himself the most rigid austerities, which he continued until his\ndeath, forty years after.\n\nWhen M. de Ranc\u00e9 undertook the superintendance of the Monastery, it\nexhibited a melancholy picture, of the greatest declension, and it\nis curious to peruse the steps by which he effected so wonderful a\nchange;[2] and how men could ever feel it either an inclination or a\nduty to enter upon a mode of life so different from the common ways of\nthinking or feeling.\n\n[Footnote 2: R\u00e8glements de L'Abbaye, La Maison-Dieu Notre Dame de La\nTrappe, par Dom. Armand de Ranc\u00e9.]\n\nThe Monks of La Trappe were not only immersed in luxury and sloth, but\nwere abandoned to the most scandalous excesses; most of them lived by\nrobbery, and several had committed assassinations on the travellers\nwho had occasion to traverse the woods. The neighbourhood shrunk with\nterror from the approach of men who never went abroad unarmed, and\nwhose excursions were marked with bloodshed and violence. The Banditti\nof La Trappe was the appellation by which they were most generally\ndistinguished. Such were the men amongst whom M. de Ranc\u00e9 resolved to\nfix his abode; all his friends endeavouring to dissuade him from an\nundertaking, they deemed alike hopeless and dangerous.\n\n\"Unarmed, and unassisted,\" [3] says his historian, \"but in the panoply\nof God, and by his Spirit, he went alone amidst this company of\nruffians, every one of whom was bent on his destruction. With\nundaunted boldness, he began by proposing the strictest reform, and\nnot counting his life dear to him, he described the full intent of his\npurpose, and left them no choice but obedience or Expulsion\".\n\n[Footnote 3: The work from which I have taken this, is a translation\nby Mrs. Schimmelpenninck of Dom. Claude Lancelot's Narrative,\npublished in 1667. The present regulations not differing from the\nformer, I have extracted some of the most important.]\n\n\"Many were the dangers M. de Ranc\u00e9 underwent; plans were laid, at\nvarious times, to poison him, to waylay and assassinate him, and even\nonce one of his monks shot at him; but the pistol, which was applied\nclose to his head, flashed in the pan, and missed fire. By the good\nprovidence of God all these plans were frustrated, and M. de Ranc\u00e9\nnot only brought his reform to bear, but several of his most violent\npersecutors became his most stedfast adherents; many were, after a\nshort time, won over by his piety--the rest left the Monastery.\nHe especially, who had shot at M. de Ranc\u00e9, became eminently\ndistinguished for his piety and learning, and was afterwards Sub-Prior\nof La Trappe\".\n\nM. de Ranc\u00e9 lived forty years at the head of this singular society,\nand the same ardor and piety continued to distinguish him to the last.\nThe excess of self-denial and discipline, exercised by this order,\nwhich might readily be doubted, became more known, especially to this\ncountry, at the time of the French Revolution, when they shared the\nfate of dissolution with the various religious orders in France. On\nthat occasion many of them sought an asylum in England, and were\nsettled in Dorsetshire, where they received the kind protection and\nbenevolent assistance of Mr. Weld, until the restoration enabled most\nof them to return; and, surprising as it may appear in the present\nage, notwithstanding the perpetual violence imposed by their\nregulations on every human feeling, many are found anxious to enter\nthe establishment.\n\nWhen I was about to take my leave of Fr\u00e8re Charle, he said, \"he hoped\nI was pleased with my humble fare: to such as it was I had been truly\nwelcome\". Indeed he had treated me with the kindest, most unaffected\nhospitality; he had laid the table, spread the dishes before me, stood\nthe whole time by the side of my chair, and pressed me to eat: How\ncould I not be thankful? I requested he would be seated, but he\nobserved that it was not proper for him to be so. His manners and\ngeneral deportment bespoke him a well-bred gentleman; and when I\nventured to ask if I might make a memorandum of his name, he bowed his\nhead with meekness and resignation, and said, \"I have now no other but\nthat which was bestowed on me when I took the vow, which severs me\nfrom the world for ever!\" It was impossible not to be affected at the\nmanner and tone of voice in which he uttered this. When I said that\nperhaps he would like that I should leave an acknowledgment in\nwriting, expressive of the gratitude I felt at my kind and hospitable\nreception, he appeared much pleased, and instantly procured me paper.\nI left with him the following lines:\n\n  \"Convent of La Trappe, July 20, 1817.\n\n  \"I have this day visited the Convent of La Trappe,\n  and in the absence of the Grand Prior, to whom I\n  brought a letter of introduction from Monsieur Lamorelie,\n  Sub-Prefect of Mortagne, I was received and\n  have been entertained by Fr\u00e8re Charle Marie, his Secretary.\n\n  \"It is quite impossible that I can do justice to the\n  kind, polite, and hospitable reception I have met with\n  from him, by any expressions in writing. I can only\n  observe, that it has made an impression on my mind\n  never to be effaced! If these worthy and pious people\n  have abandoned the world for the solitude and austerities\n  of La Trappe, they have not forgotten, in their own self-denial,\n  the benevolence and benignity due to strangers.\n  May their self-devotion meet with its reward!\"\n\nI now took my leave of the Convent with feelings which I will not\npretend to describe, but which, together with the impressions I\nreceived when I first entered it, and the whole circumstances of my\nvisit, I am conscious of retaining while \"Memory holds her seat\". The\nfollowing lines, by P. Mandard, on quitting La Trappe, convey a very\nfaithful and poetical picture of this extraordinary solitude:\n\n  --Saint d\u00e9sert, s\u00e9jour pur et paisible,\n  Solitude profonde, au vice inaccessible;\n  Imp\u00e9tueux torrens, et vous sombres for\u00eats,\n  Recevez mes adieux, comme aussi mes regrets!\n  Toujours \u00e9pris de vous, respectable retraite,\n  Puiss\u00e9-je, dans le cours d'une vie inqui\u00e8te,\n  Dans ce flux \u00e9ternel de folie et d'erreur,\n  O\u00f9 flotte tristement notre malheureux coeur;\n  Puiss\u00e9-je, pour charmer mes ennuis et mes peines,\n  Souvent fuir en esprit au bord de vos fontaines,\n  Egarer ma pens\u00e9e au milieu de vos bois,\n  Par un doux souvenir rappeler mille fois\n  De vos Saints habitans les touchantes images,\n  P\u00e9n\u00e9trer, sur leurs pas, dans vos grottes sauvages,\n  Me placer sur vos monts, et l\u00e0, prennant l'essort,\n  Aller chercher en Dieu ma joie, et mon tr\u00e9sor!\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. II.\n\nVAL-DIEU.--RUINS OF THE CONVENT OF THE CHARTREUSE.--FORESTS OF LE\nPERCHE, MORTAGNE.\n\n\nI quitted _La Trappe_ in the afternoon of the third day after my\narrival there, for the Val-Dieu, which lies three leagues to the east\nof Mortagne, taking the villages of Rinrolles and Prepotin in my way;\nthe latter stands in the midst of a forest. By this road, so bad that\nit scarcely deserves the name, a great distance is saved, but the\nromantic scenery of the approach to La Trappe is lost. The one we took\nthrough the forest of Bellegarde more than doubles the distance;\nbut the Abbey is seen as in the centre of a lake beneath, and\nthe continual beauty and wildness of the landscape render it far\npreferable. Until the Revolution this was the only road, the other\nhaving been made when the lands became national property, and were\nsold to the peasantry.\n\nAfter passing through the above villages, we came round by Tourouvre,\na village on a height, which has a manufactory for glass. I did\nnot stop to view it, having several leagues to go through a wooded\ncountry. Soon after crossing the main road leading into Bretagne,\nwe rode by the side of cultivated lands and orchards resembling the\nwestern parts of Devonshire, of which the narrow lanes and high hedges\nreminded me very much, until we entered the forest leading to the\nVal-Dieu. Between eight and nine in the evening we came to the edge\nbounding that part of the Vale by which it is approached, in the\ndirection we had taken. It was very considerably out of our way, owing\nto the guide having mistaken his road and turned to the left instead\nof the right. After resting a few minutes on the brow of the hill, we\nbegan our descent by a steep and narrow pathway. When we were midway\ndown the glen, the ruins of the ancient Chartreuse suddenly burst upon\nthe view! At this moment all the terrors of the declivity, and the\nmomentary expectation of meeting some of the wolves with which the\nforest abounds, vanished from my mind before the feelings of delight\nwhich the enchanting scene called forth. The almost perpendicular view\nof the Vale beneath, had an effect tremendous yet pleasing: on the\nleft was a lake, seeming to encircle an ancient convent embosomed in\na wood; a thick forest covered the surrounding heights, and before me\nstood the remains of the ancient Priory, with its gateway and lodge so\nperfect as to create no suspicion of the destruction within.\n\n[Illustration: RUINS of the GATEWAY of the ANCIENT CHARTREUSE.]\n\nThis had been the hottest day and finest weather I had experienced\nduring my journey. It was a sweet evening, and the rich tints of the\ndeparting sun-beams among the woods, with the solitary calmness of the\nscenery around, were circumstances that made a strong impression on my\nfeelings. Those who have never traversed the forests of this country\ncan form but a very imperfect idea of what they are, or of the\ndeath-like awful stillness that reigns within them; for many miles\ntogether they form a dense shade, which, like a dark awning,\ncompletely conceals the sun from the view: even on the brightest day\nthe sun's rays are only visible as from the bottom of a deep well! The\nforests in Le Perche are reckoned the most extensive in France, and\nevery where abound with vast quantities of game.\n\nI was received on alighting from my horse by a M. Boderie, a\ngood humoured hospitable man, who, with his family, are the only\ninhabitants of this lonesome spot. I found afterwards that he had seen\nbetter days: he informed me the Val-Dieu property was purchased at the\ndissolution of the Monastery by the present proprietor, who resided at\nParis, and allowed him, being his friend, to occupy that part of the\nbuilding which had not been destroyed. He made many apologies for the\nbadness of the accommodations and the homeliness of the fare he had to\noffer me, which I considered as unnecessary, as what he possessed was\ntendered with unaffected cheerfulness.\n\nThe Prussians in 1815 occupied this country, and notwithstanding M.\nBoderie was absent at that time serving in the body guard of Louis\nXVIII, whom he had accompanied in his retreat to Ghent, they plundered\nhim of every article, not even leaving his wife a change of linen.\nThe numerous accounts I have heard from people of respectability and\nloyalty, of the treatment experienced from the Prussians, excites the\ngreatest regret that they were not able to distinguish the innocent\nfrom the guilty. Many families have been ruined, or greatly distressed\nin their circumstances who were devoted to the cause of their\nSovereign. Such are the inevitable consequences of war!\n\nThe Val-Dieu extends upwards of three miles in length, surrounded by\nalmost impenetrable woods, except where paths have been cut. It has\nthree lakes, one communicating with the other, containing great\nquantities of fish. The Monastery, it is evident from the remains of\nits ruins, and from the boundary wall, still entire, must have been of\nprodigious extent. M. Boderie informed me, that the plan, of which\nhe had seen an engraving, showed it to have been one of the most\nconsiderable in the kingdom: some idea may be formed of its former\ncelebrity and extent by the remains of six hundred fire-places being\nstill traceable. A colonnade surrounded the whole, forming an oblong\nsquare, in the centre of which was a jet d'eau, with several smaller\nones, the basins of which are still to be seen; the space within\nformed a garden, with delicious walks, resembling those in the Palais\nRoyal.\n\nThe gate-way remains perfect, excepting only that the images over the\nside doors have been mutilated. The one in the centre (over the great\nentrance) is still in excellent preservation, and appears to be finely\nexecuted: it is the figure of the Virgin Mary in gray marble, the\nsize of life, seated, with the infant Jesus in her arms. On a scroll\nbeneath are these letters:--\n\n  ECCE MATER\n  TVA.\n  1760.\n\nSeveral old chesnut trees and elms still remain, which once formed\na fine avenue in front of the building, from whence the prospect is\nstrikingly beautiful. The eye passes over rocks, rugged, broken, and\nabrupt towards their summits, crowned and darkened with wood; and the\nnarrow road winding between the trees, until it loses itself in the\nforest, forms a feature very gratifying to the traveller. The solitude\nof the place, as I viewed it at the close of day, occasioned mingled\nsensations of pleasure and pain. It was impossible to resist the\nimposing power of a situation, where every natural object was deeply\ntinged with the poetical character, and every remnant of architecture\nassociated with the romance of religious feeling. I recalled and dwelt\nupon various passages of the poets inspired by similar scenes, and\nthought of the holy and enthusiastic minds which had here devoted\nthemselves to the sublimest duties and severest sacrifices of the\naltar; and felt, that had I lived in those days, I, perhaps, could\nhave become an inmate of walls which seem to have been erected\nto exclude the evils of life, and to nurture only the enchanting\nabstractions of unpolluted virtue and happiness: but the present\nday has brought with it a general philosophy and knowledge of human\nnature, which lessen the delight of contemplating the calm repose of\nsuch a seclusion, and have taught that these retreats from the world\nwere not always retreats from vice; that the sacrifices of monkish\nprivacy were not always those of selfish feelings; and that the\nausterities once practised here, as now at La Trappe, might perhaps\narise more frequently from disappointed pride and ambition, than\nfrom the pure feelings of pious resignation. In the overthrow of the\nmonarchy and that of the priesthood, this venerable pile became the\nobject of popular vengeance; and had the Revolution done no more than\neffected the dissolution of the different orders of monks and nuns,\nevery reflecting mind must have been pleased: the removal of those\nabuses, like the division of landed property into smaller portions,\n(whereby the country in general became more cultivated and\nproductive,) was serviceable to France; and, if any circumstance can\nrestore permanent tranquillity, it will be the interest which the\ndifferent landholders have in the soil and the representative system,\nwhich will serve to check the ambition of its future governors.\nAlready the good effects of these are to be perceived; and the\nexcessive abuses, insolence, and profligacy, of ancient ministerial\noppression, which paved the way for the downfall of the monarchy, and,\nlike a pestilence, destroyed that which was good with that which was\nevil, will be prevented in future.\n\nIt is, nevertheless, melancholy to observe the traces of devastation\nvisible in all directions: the people themselves appear not to regard\nit, but this may arise partly from the long and habitual feelings\ngenerated by the scenes to which the Revolution daily gave rise, and\npartly from the constitutional cheerfulness of the natives, who seldom\nview objects through the same dark medium that ours are supposed to\ndo, and who, though they are not celebrated for patience, are of all\nmankind the least liable to despondency. When I spoke to M. Boderie of\nmy regret at the destruction of an ancient structure like the one in\nquestion, his answer was, immediately, \"oui c'est bien malheureux;\nmais enfin que voulez-vous?\" He was \"desol\u00e9\" or had \"le coeur tr\u00e8s\nsensible \u00e0 tout cela;\" but finished by \"il faut se consoler\". With\nthis sort of philosophy they are always ready to view the past, and\naccept of consolation, and in amusement, seek to bear or dissipate\nthe calamities inseparable from such a state of events, without even\nappearing to repine. None of them will ever enter into conversation on\nthe subject if it can be avoided.\n\nThe following day, having taken leave of my hospitable host, who\nrefused any compensation, I returned to Mortagne by another route,\nthrough the Forest of Val-Dieu, more dark and difficult to penetrate\nthan the other; but the guide was better acquainted with it, and took\nthe road by Saint Maure and Saint Eloi, through a fine country, highly\ncultivated, and abounding in beautiful scenery and distant landscapes.\nIt was late at night before I reached Mortagne, greatly fatigued from\nthe excessive heat of the weather.\n\nI dined the following day with Madame de Bellou, whose kind attention\nand elegant hospitality, during the time I remained at Mortagne, I\nmust ever remember with sentiments of sincere gratitude. This lady had\ninvited Monsieur Lamorelie, the Sub-Prefect, one of the most elegant\nmen I had met with in France, with several other gentlemen and ladies,\nto meet me. Among the party were Madame de Fontenay, Monsieur and\nMademoiselle Claire de Vanssay--very agreeable people: the latter\npossessed, without great beauty, all the charms and vivacity of her\ncountrywomen. In the evening we went to an assembly, where I had an\nopportunity of seeing, and being presented to, all the respectable\nfamilies that yet remained in town; for at this season many were at\ntheir country-seats. The ease, elegance, and good manners of the\ncompany composing this society, I never saw excelled in any country.\nIt is but common justice to observe, that in Mortagne, which is the\nresidence of all the best families in the province, there is to be\nfound all the characteristic good breeding for which the French were\nso long, and so deservedly celebrated.\n\nThe town of Mortagne stands on the declivity of a hill, in the\nprovince of Le Perche, bordering on Normandy. The high road to\nBretagne passes through it. It has only one church remaining out\nof seven, six having been destroyed at the Revolution. It has some\nmanufactories for serges and coarse cloths, and contains between five\nand six thousand inhabitants, in the department of L'Orne. From its\nelevated position and chalky soil, the air is pure and the situation\nhealthy. The inhabitants are under the necessity of supplying\nthemselves with water from the valley, as there are no wells on\naccount of the rocky height it stands on, which is attended with\ninconvenience and expense; otherwise it would be a desirable residence\nfor those who wish to unite economy with a change of climate.\n\nDuring the Vendean war, this town became, at different periods, the\nvictim of either party as they were successful; and it suffered\nseverely. The hotel kept by Gautier (Les trois Lions), which is\nlikewise la Poste, and le Bureau des Diligences, is the best, and\nthe people are very obliging; but it partakes of the same want\nof cleanliness, that so invariably distinguishes all similar\nestablishments in this country.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. III.\n\nFROM MORTAGNE TO RENNES, SOEURS DE LA CHARIT\u00c9. ALEN\u00c7ON, LAVAL, VITR\u00c9,\nTHE RESIDENCE OF THE CELEBRATED MADAME DE S\u00c9VIGN\u00c9. RENNES.\n\n\nI travelled by the diligence from Mortagne to Alen\u00e7on and Laval: we\narrived at the former place to dinner, and at the latter to remain all\nnight. The carriage was filled with _Soeurs de la Charit\u00e9_,\n\n  \"Qui, pour le malheur seul connoissant la tendresse,\n  Aux besoins du vieil-age immollent leur jeunesse,\"\n\non their way to different places in Bretagne, on charitable missions,\nby the order of the Superior at Paris. Four of these were young and\nbeautiful women, none of whom could have attained the age of twenty;\nyet these females had already devoted themselves to attend on the sick\nand poor wherever their services might be required, for which purpose\nthey receive a suitable education, in an Hospital at Paris, in such\nbranches of medicine and surgery as may render them useful. They\nare distributed throughout the kingdom to attend the hospitals and\nprisons, which they do with the delicacy and attention peculiar to\ntheir sex. Of all the classes of females who thus devote themselves to\na religious life, and to acts of charity, none are more respected, or\nmore truly serviceable to their fellow-creatures. Their dress consists\nof a coarse brown jacket and gown, with a high linen cap, sloping down\nover the shoulders, and a rosary hanging round their waist.\n\nQuitting Beauregard we crossed the river Sart: here the Province of\nLe Perche terminates, and we enter that of Normandy. For many miles,\ntravelling close to the Forest of Bourse, the roads are excellent,\nthough hilly, and the country highly cultivated in all directions. The\npeasantry were getting in the hay and rye harvest, and large tracts of\nwheat and barley were nearly ready for cutting.\n\nThe town of Alen\u00e7on is the capital of L'Orne-sur-Sart. It stands in\nthe middle of a fertile plain. The lace made here is the most valuable\nof any manufactured in France. The Hotel of the Prefecture is a\nfine building. After dinner I went to the theatre, (formerly an old\nmanufactory), to see the _Hotel Garni_ and _Les deux Suisses_: both\nperformances were of a very moderate cast. The audience consisted\nprincipally of the military in garrison.\n\nOn the road from Alen\u00e7on to Laval, we were guarded the whole day by\ntwo troopers of the Gendarmerie, who are quartered along the whole\nline of road from the capital; they are well armed and mounted, and\nkeep a very vigilant guard. At every place we stopped our passports\nwere examined. The police of this country is observed with greater\nrigor than at any former period of its history, with regard to\npassports. The circumstances under which the restoration took place,\nthe political state of France, in regard to other powers, the\nconflicting interests and opinions of various parties, probably render\nit highly expedient. On the arrival of a stranger at Paris, his\npassport must be presented, and inscribed in the police book.\nThe revision of the one under which the person has travelled is\nindispensably necessary. It is then carried to the British Ambassador,\n(if the stranger be of that nation), or to the minister of that\ncountry to which he belongs, where it must obtain the Ambassador's\nsignature. It is next taken to the office of the Minister of Foreign\nAffairs, where it is deposited until the following day, for which ten\nlivres are charged, and afterwards to the Pr\u00e9fecture of the Police, to\nbe signed there in its turn: and when all this is done no one can quit\nthe capital for the interior without its being again signed at the\nPr\u00e9fecture of the police.\n\nFrom Alen\u00e7on, we passed the Briante, a small river, at Ville Neuve,\nwhere the road begins to skirt the Forest of Moultonue. At Mayenne,\nthe river of that name divides the provinces. The whole of this\ncountry is singularly beautiful. I observed vast quantities of buck\nwheat, which the French call _bled noir_ or _sarazin_. The country was\nvery much enclosed, producing a great contrast to the vast tracts of\nland through which I had passed without a single division.\n\nAt two leagues from Mayenne we crossed the river Aisne, winding\nthrough a beautiful valley, between Martign\u00e9 and Louvern\u00e9. On the left\nthe river forms a small lake, surrounded by a wood at the foot of a\nvery long and steep hill.\n\nThe town of Mayenne is ancient and irregularly built, the river\nMayenne running through it. The ruins of an old wall and some decayed\ntowers remain of the fortifications which were taken by assault, after\nseveral bloody attempts, during the siege by the English, in 1424.\n\nAt Laval, where I stopped, after again crossing the Mayenne, I\nentered the province of Bretagne: it is an old dirty town, completely\nintersected by the river, and has a manufactory for coarse cloths and\ncottons. The _T\u00eate Noire_ is one of the worst inns I have met with in\nthe country. The department of the Isle-et-Vilaine commences here.\n\nThis place is celebrated in the history of the Vendean war by the\nrefuge Madame de Laroche-Jaquelin sought there, after the deplorable\ndefeat of the royalist army at the battle of Mans, where it received\nits death-blow. The wreck of that army, under M. de Laroche-Jaquelin,\nwere driven from it again on the following day, and from that\nhour never rallied so as to make any stand against the victorious\nrepublicans.\n\nQuitting Laval the day after my arrival, I ascended a long and steep\nhill, travelled by the side of the forest of Petre, and came to Vitr\u00e9,\nwhere I remained all night for the purpose of visiting the ch\u00e2teau of\nthe celebrated Madame de S\u00e9vign\u00e9,[4] whose estate has descended to a\ndistant branch of her family, who had the good fortune to save it from\ndestruction during the revolution. The grounds are kept in excellent\norder. Her picture hangs in the apartment in which she composed her\ninteresting and elegant letters, and every article of furniture\ncarefully preserved is shown to strangers. The distance from Vitr\u00e9 to\nRennes is seven leagues, over a road which becomes gradually less and\nless Interesting.\n\n[Footnote 4: Marie de Rabutin, Marchioness de Sevign\u00e9, was the\ndaughter of the Baron de Chantal, and born in 1626: she espoused at\nthe age of eighteen the Marquis de S\u00e9vign\u00e9, who fell in a duel in\n1651, leaving her with one son and a daughter, to whose education\nshe paid strict attention: the daughter married in 1669 the Count de\nGrignan, Commandant in Provence, and it was on a visit to her that the\nMarchioness caught a fever and died in 1696. Her son Charles, Marquis\nde Sevign\u00e9, was one of the admirers of Ninon de L'Enclos, and had\na dispute with Madame Dacier respecting the sense of a passage in\nHorace. He died in 1713. (Moreri.)]\n\n\nRennes is the chief city of the Isle-et-Vilaine, and in former times\nwas the capital of Bretagne. It is a large ancient built town,\nstanding on a vast plain, between the rivers Isle and Vilaine. It has\na hall of justice, (Cour Royale,) an episcopal palace, and a foundry\nfor cannon. A more dismal dirty looking city, or a more uninteresting\none to a stranger, is seldom to be seen. Few traces remain of its\nancient splendor; the old rampart, which once encompassed it, now\nforms a promenade.\n\nIts commerce is considerable, being the entrep\u00f4t for grain and cattle,\nwith which it supplies Paris and the Southern Provinces, not so\nabundant in their produce. Jane of Flanders, Countess of Montfort,\nthe most extraordinary woman of her time, resided here, during the\nimprisonment of her husband in the palace of the Louvre, by Philippe\nde Valois,[5] when Edward the Third of England invaded France.\nHennebon, when attacked by Charles of Blois, was defended by the\nCountess, and relieved by Sir Walter Manny, whom Edward had sent with\na body of 6,000 archers to her succour. The garrison, encouraged by\nso rare an example of female valour, defended themselves against an\nimmense army, composed of French, Spaniards, Genoese, and Bretons,\nwho frequently assaulted it, and were as vigorously repulsed. On one\noccasion, Froissart mentions her sallying out at the head of a body of\ntwo hundred cavalry, throwing the enemy into great confusion, doing\ngreat execution among them, and setting fire to the tents and\nmagazines, which were entirely destroyed.\n\n[Footnote 5: Among the brave knights who engaged in so many battles\nand perilous adventures, and other feats of arms, Froissart mentions\nPhilip, as opposed to those heroes of high renown, Edward of England,\nthe Prince of Wales his son, the Duke of Lancaster, Sir Reginald Lord\nCobham, Sir Walter Manny of Hainault, Sir John Chandos, Sir Fulk\nHarley, and many others recorded in his book for worth and prowess.\n\"In France also was found good chivalry, strong of limb and stout of\nheart, and in great abundance, for the kingdom of France was never\nbrought so low as to want men ever ready for combat. Such was King\nPhilipe de Valois, a bold and hardy knight, and his son King John,\nalso John king of Bohemia, and Charles Count of Alen\u00e7on his son\".]\n\nThe population of Rennes is 27,000. It is at present garrisoned by one\nthousand troops, and people are of opinion that government finds it no\neasy task to keep down the spirit of the Vendeans, who are said to\nbe, \"plus Royalistes que le Roi\". There appears every where a strong\nspirit of dissatisfaction on the part of the Royalists, at the general\npreference given to those who were employed under the late ruler in\nplaces of public trust, and who were avowed enemies to the restoration\nof Louis XVIII.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. IV.\n\nROUTE FROM RENNES TO NANTES. CITY OF NANTES. HISTORICAL ANECDOTES.\n\n\nArriving at the first post, we crossed the river Vilaine, and between\nthis and Rondun passed the river Bruck, and ascended a high mountain\nbetween Rondun and La Br\u00e9haraye. At this place we quitted the\ndepartment of the Isle-et-Vilaine. Crossing the Cher, we arrived at\nDerval, and from thence at Nozai, passing several large lakes,\nand then over the river Don. The whole of this distance, with the\nexception of the hill already mentioned, is composed of flat sandy\nplains, mostly uncultivated, and the road is very rough.\n\nFrom Nozai to Ancenis we crossed the river Isac; from thence to Redon,\nHeri\u00e9, to La Croix Blanche, along the bank of the river; and after\nmounting another steep hill, we descended into an extensive plain,\nleading to Gesvres and Nantes.\n\nThe whole of this country north of the Loire, from Rennes to Nantes,\nthe triangular point resting upon Angers, is the country of the\nChouans, which it is necessary, in reference to the Vendean war, to\ndistinguish from the country south of the Loire, in the department of\nthe Loire Inf\u00e9rieure, called le Bocage, or la Vend\u00e9e. Although the\nlatter was the scene of the more desperate warfare between the\nrepublicans and the royalists, yet the former had its share of\nbloodshed and misery. The whole country on both banks of the Loire, as\nfar as Angers, is classic ground to those who revere the efforts by\nwhich the Vendeans so long resisted the republicans.\n\nThe city of Nantes is the chief seat of the Pr\u00e9fecture of the\ndepartment of the Loire Inf\u00e9rieure, standing on the right bank of the\nriver, surrounded by its ancient rampart, of a circular form, and in\ngood preservation: on the opposite bank stand the ruined tower\nand mouldering bastions of Permil. This spot is interesting to an\nEnglishman, from the memorable events to which the fatal pretensions\nof Edward the Third gave rise, and which occupy the pages of French\nand English history, during a period of more than a century[6].\n\n[Footnote 6: In 1343, Edward the Third laid siege to this place.\nFroissart mentions the English army being drawn out on a hill, in\nbattle array, near the town. The ground rises a little in this\ndirection, but, I should suppose, it must have been on the right bank,\nas the country there is hilly, and this ancient fortress must have\ndefended the passage of the river. \"The king himself,\" says the\nChronicle, \"with the rest of his army, advanced towards Rennes,\nburning and ruining the country on all sides, and was most joyfully\nreceived by the whole army who lay before it, and had been there for\na considerable time. When he had tarried there five days, he learned\nthat the Lord Charles of Blois was at Nantes, collecting a large force\nof men at arms. He set out, therefore, leaving those whom he had found\nat Rennes, and came before Nantes, which he besieged as closely as he\ncould, but was unable to surround it, such was its size and extent.\nThe marshals, therefore, and their people, overran the country and\ndestroyed it. The king of England, one day, drew out his army in\nbattle array on a hill near Nantes, in expectation that the Lord\nCharles would come forth and offer him an opportunity of fighting with\nhim: but, having waited from morning until noon in vain, they returned\nto their quarters: the light horse, however, in their retreat,\ngalloped up to the barriers, and set fire to the suburbs\".\n\n\"The king of England, during the siege, made frequent skirmishes, but\nwithout success, always losing some of his men; when, therefore, he\nfound he could gain nothing by his assaults, and that the Lord Charles\nwould not come out into the plains to fight him, he established there\nthe Earl of Oxford, Sir Henry Beaumont, the Lord Percy, the Lord Roos,\nthe Lord Mowbray, the Lord Delawar, Sir Reginald Cobham, Sir John\nLisle, with six hundred men armed, and two hundred archers\".\n\nThe king himself advanced into the country of Bretagne, wasting it\nwherever he went, until he came to the town of Dinant, of which Sir\nPeter Porteboeuf was governor. He immediately laid siege to it all\nround, and ordered it to be vigorously assaulted. Those within made a\nvaliant resistance. Thus did the king of England in one season, and\nin one day, make an assault by himself, or those ordered by him, upon\nthree cities in Bretagne, and a good town, viz. Rennes, Vannes, and\nNantes. The brave Sir Walter Manny was left before Vannes, with five\nhundred men at arms, and six thousand archers, while the king with\nthe rest of his army advanced towards Rennes and Nantes. This gallant\nsoldier, at the battle of Calais, had this singular honour conferred\non him by his sovereign, who, with his valiant son the Prince of\nWales, both served under his banner.--Edward said to Sir Walter Manny,\n\"Sir Walter, I will that you be the chief of this enterprise, and I\nand my son will fight under your banner\".\n\nThe lively and picturesque historian then gives a very interesting\naccount of the above action, which was fought the last day of December\n1348, and of the gallantry of Edward's conduct to his prisoner, Sir\nEustace de Ribeaumont.\n\n\"We will now speak of the King of England, who was there incognito,\nunder Sir Walter Manny's banner. He advanced with his men on foot,\nto meet the enemy, who were formed in close order, with their pikes\nshortened to five feet, planted out before them. The first attack was\nvery sharp and severe. The King singled out Sir Eustace de Ribeaumont,\nwho was a strong and hardy knight: he fought a long time marvellously\nwell with the King, so that it was a pleasure to see them; but, by the\nconfusion of the engagement, they were separated; for two large bodies\nmet where they were fighting, and forced them to break off the combat.\n\n\"On the side of the French there was excellent fighting, by Sir\nGeoffrey de Chargny, Sir John de Landas, Sir Hector, and Sir Gavin de\nBallieul, and others; but they were all surpassed by Sir Eustace de\nRibeaumont, who that day struck the King twice down on his knees:\nat last, however, he was obliged to present his sword to the King,\nsaying, 'Sir Knight, I surrender myself your prisoner, for the honour\nof the day must fall to the English.'\n\n\"All that belonged to Sir Geoffry de Chargny were either slain or\ncaptured: among the first was Sir Henry du Bois, and Sir Peppin de\nWerr\u00e9; Sir Geoffry and the rest were taken prisoners. The last that\nwas taken, and who in that day had excelled all, was Sir Eustace de\nRibeaumont.\n\n\"When the engagement was over, the King returned to the Castle at\nCalais, and ordered all the prisoners to be brought before him. The\nFrench taken, knew for the first time, that the King of England had\nbeen there in person, under the banner of Sir Walter de Manny.\n\n\"The King said he would this evening of the new year entertain them\nall at supper in the Castle. When the hour for supper was come, the\ntables spread, and the King and his Knights dressed in new robes, as\nwell as the French, who, notwithstanding they were prisoners, made\ngood cheer (for the King wished it should be so), the King seated\nhimself at table, and made those Knights do the same around him in a\nmost honourable manner. The gallant Prince of Wales, and the Knights\nof England, served up the first course, and waited on their guests. At\nthe second course, they went and seated themselves at another table,\nwhere they were served, and attended on very quietly.\n\n\"When supper was over, and the tables removed, the King remained in\nthe Hall among the English and French Knights, bare-headed, except a\nchaplet of fine pearls, which was round his head. He conversed\nwith all of them; but when he came to Sir Geoffry de Chargny, his\ncountenance altered, and looking at him askance, he said, 'Sir\nGeoffry, I have but little reason to love you, when you wished to\nseize upon me by stealth last night, what had given me so much\ntrouble to acquire, and cost me such sums of money' (Sir Geoffry had\nendeavoured to bribe the garrison to put him in possession of it in\nthe night previous to the battle): 'I am, however, rejoiced to have\ncaught you thus in attempting it.'--When he came to Sir Eustace de\nRibeaumont, he assumed a cheerful look, and said with a smile, 'Sir\nEustace, you are the most valiant knight in Christendom that I ever\nsaw attack his enemy, or defend himself. I never yet found any one in\nbattle, who, body to body, had given me so much to do as you have done\nthis day. I adjudge to you the prize of valour, above all the knights\nof my Court, as what is justly due to you.'--The King then took off\nhis chaplet, which was very rich and handsome, and placing it on the\nhead of Sir Eustace, said, 'Sir Eustace, I present you with this\nchaplet, as being the best combatant this day, either within or\nwithout doors; and I beg of you to wear it this year for the love of\nme. I know that you are lively and amorous, and love the company of\nladies and damsels; therefore say, wherever you go, that I gave it to\nyou. I also give you your liberty, free of ransom; and you may set out\nto-morrow, and go whither you will.'\"]\n\nThe river Loire, which is crossed by seven bridges, winds through the\ntown. They are the Pont Rousseau, De Permil, D'Aiguillon, Feydeau, De\nla Belle Croix, Brisebois, and Toussaint. The houses are regular and\nhandsome, having in some places a very singular appearance, from the\nground having sunk, and the foundations given way, causing them to\nlean in various directions from the perpendicular line. In point of\ncommerce, at one period antecedent to the Revolution, Nantes was the\nmost considerable sea-port in France: since the loss of its West India\ntrade, especially with Saint Domingo, it has been greatly reduced.\nThe rich plains which surround it on three sides, in the form of an\namphitheatre, and the river covered with vessels and boats, give it\na most lively appearance. It has a large Theatre, a Royal College\n(lately the Lyceum), a Commercial Tribunal, a handsome Exchange, a\nBishop's Palace, Hall of the Pr\u00e9fecture, Public Library, Anatomical\nand Surgical Academies, Botanical Garden, Museum of Natural History,\nand a foundry for cannon.\n\nThe latter is in the old and decaying Ch\u00e2teau on the bank of the\nriver, called Goulemme. One of its bastions was blown up a few years\nsince by accident, which has shaken and destroyed the whole fabric;\nbut it is still capable of holding a garrison, and is a fine monument\nof ancient fortification. It was once the residence of Henry IV. of\nFrance, at the time he signed the celebrated edict, (1598,) in favour\nof the reformed religion, afterwards revoked by Louis XIV. in 1685,\nand which occasioned such deplorable consequences to the French\nnation.\n\nM. de Sainte Foix, in his historical Essays upon Paris, vol. i.\np. 113, speaking of the Rue de Grenelle, in the quarter of Saint\nEustache, gives the following curious account of the birth of this\ngreat King, whose memory is revered in France, beyond that of all the\nother monarchs who have swayed the Gallic sceptre.\n\n\"Jeanne d'Albret, being desirous of following her husband to the wars\nof Picardy, the King her father told her, that in case she proved with\nchild, he wanted her to come and lie-in at his house; and that he\nwould bring up the child himself, whether a boy or a girl. This\nPrincess finding herself pregnant, and in her ninth month, set out\nfrom Compi\u00e8gne, passed through all France as far as the Pyrenees, and\narrived in fifteen days at Pau in B\u00e9arn. She was very desirous to see\nher father's will. It was contained in a thick gold box, on which was\na gold chain, that would have gone twenty-five or thirty times round\nher neck. She asked it of him:--'It shall be yours,' said he, 'as soon\nas you have shown me the child that you now carry; and that you may\nnot bring into the world a crying or a pouting child, I promise you\nthe whole, provided that whilst you are in labour, you sing the\nBearnese song _Notre Dame du bout du Pont aidez-moi en cette heure_\".\nNo sooner was the Princess safely delivered, than her father, placing\nthe gold chain on her neck, and giving her the gold box wherein was\nhis will, said to her: 'These are for you, daughter, but this is for\nme;' and took the child in his gown, without waiting for its being\ndressed in form, and carried it into his chamber. The little Prince\nwas brought up in such a manner as to be able to undergo fatigue and\nhardship; frequently eating nothing but common bread. The good King\nhis grandfather ordered it thus, and would not let him be delicately\npampered, in order that from his infancy he might be inured to\nprivation. He has often been seen, according to the custom of the\ncountry, amongst the other children of the Castle and village of\nCoirazze, bare-footed and bare-headed, as well in winter as in summer.\nWho was this Prince?--Henry IV.\n\n\"Being descended from the Kings of France, he became the heir to that\nKingdom; but as he was educated a Protestant, his claim was resisted.\nHe early distinguished himself by feats of arms. After the peace of\nSaint Germain, in 1570, he was taken to the French Court, and two\nyears afterwards married Margaret, sister of Charles IX. (At the\nrejoicings on this occasion the infamous massacre of _La Saint\nBarth\u00e9l\u00e9my_ took place.) In 1589 he succeeded to the throne of France;\nbut his religion proving an obstacle to his coronation, he consented\nto abjure it in 1593. In 1598 he issued the edict of Nantes, granting\ntoleration to the Protestants\".\n\nMezeray, speaking of the marriage of the King of Navarre (afterwards\nHenry IV.) with Margaret de Valois, says, \"There were many diversions,\ntournaments, and ballets at Court; and amongst others, one which\nseemed to presage the calamity that was so near bursting out upon the\nHuguenots--the King and his brothers defending Paradise against the\nKing of Navarre and his brothers, who were repulsed and banished to\nHell;\" and Sainte Foix, in his relation of the horrible massacre,\ngives a detail, which in the present age appears almost incredible.\n\nCatherine of Medicis, whose abominable politics had corrupted the\ndisposition of her son, was at the head of the cabinet council who\nagreed to the murder of more than one hundred thousand Protestants;\nand the miserable bigot Charles IX. stationed during the massacre at\nthe window of a house then belonging to the Constable of Bourbon,\nfired with his own hands upon the Huguenots with a long blunderbuss,\nwhilst they were trying to escape across the river.\n\nThe River Erdr\u00e9 runs northward of the city, and forms a beautiful\nfeature, winding for many miles among cultivated fields and woodlands,\nthrough a country agreeably diversified with villas, to which the\nwealthier inhabitants retire during the summer months. The river\nresembles a lake for the greater part of its course, and is called the\nBarban.\n\nThe Gothic church of Saint Pierre, built by the English in 1434, is\na fine old structure: having been much neglected for many years, and\ngreatly defaced during the Revolution, it was at this time restoring.\nAmong the monuments about to be replaced, was an excellent one of Anne\nde Bretagne, whose effigy, and that of her husband, are as large as\nlife. The allegorical figures of Justice, Temperance, Prudence, and\nFortitude, the twelve Apostles, and the supporters to the Arms (a\ngreyhound and a lion), are all executed in the finest white marble.\nThey were hidden during the Revolution, and have only very lately been\ndiscovered, as have also some capital paintings piously preserved\nfor the Church. Anne was first married to Charles VIII. in 1499, and\nafterwards to Louis XII. She died at the Ch\u00e2teau de Blois in 1514, and\nLouis in 1515.\n\nThe climate of Nantes is mild, and reckoned remarkably healthy: every\narticle of life is cheap, and from its mild temperature it abounds\nin the finest fruits and most excellent wines. Its population is\nestimated at 60,000 inhabitants. The numbers that were destroyed\nduring the Revolution, or, as the French emphatically term it, \"Le\nr\u00e9gne de la Terreur,\" were never ascertained; but the frightful\nhistory of that bloody period would probably justify the computation\nat half the number of its present population, many having fallen\nvictims to the murders that were termed \"_Noyades_,\" independent of\nthose who perished in the Vendean war.\n\nThe spot where the gallant Charette was shot, with several other\nleaders of the Vendean army, is shown; and in the cemetery, a large\nmound of earth marks the place where the bodies were thrown in, at the\ntime of the \"_Fuzillades_\" when the infamous Carrier presided at the\nexecution of the brave Royalists.[7] The print beneath represents this\nmonster on the banks of the Loire directing the Noyades.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Footnote 7: Chaque nuit on venait en prendre par centaines, pour les\nmettre sur les bateaux. L\u00e0 on liait les malheureux deux \u00e0 deux, et\non les poussait dans l'eau \u00e0 coups de ba\u00efonette. On saisissait\nindistinctement tout ce qui se trouvait \u00e0 l'entrep\u00f4t, tellement\nqu'on noya un jour l'\u00e9tat major d'une corvette Anglaise, qui \u00e9tait\nprisonnier de guerre. Une autre fois, Carrier, voulant donner un\nexemple de l'aust\u00e9rit\u00e9 des moeurs r\u00e9publicaines, fit enfermer trois\ncent filles publiques de la ville, et les malheureuses cr\u00e9atures\nfurent noy\u00e9es. Enfin, l'on estime qu'il a p\u00e9ri \u00e0 l'entrep\u00f4t quinze\nmille personnes en un mois.--_M\u00e9moires de Madame la Marquise de\nLaroche-Jaquelin_.]\n\nAt the end of a fine avenue of trees, on the Boulevard, is a large\nand splendid mansion built by that Deputy, and which is at present\ninhabited by a merchant. Carrier's mistress (to whom he left it,\ntogether with a very considerable fortune, amassed from the spoils\nof his plunder, and the murder of the innocent inhabitants) was very\nlately sentenced to two years' hard labour for some crime she had\ncommitted: and it is no less remarkable, that, of the remaining\ninhabitants known to have participated in the atrocities of that\nfrightful period, there is not one but is reduced to poverty, and most\nof them in the extreme of wretchedness, shunned by all, and suffering\nthe ignominy they have so justly merited!\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. V.\n\nCOUNTRY SOUTH OF THE LOIRE.--LE BOCAGE.--CLISSON.--HISTORICAL\nANECDOTES.--THE GARENNE, AND RIVER S\u00c8VRES.\n\n\nThe best method of travelling in this country is on horseback: in\nfact, it is impossible to proceed in any other way, after quitting the\nmain road. Having procured a guide and horses, I set out early in the\nmorning, crossing the Loire by the Pont Rosseau, to Verton, keeping\nalong the banks of the River S\u00e8vres. Verton is a romantic village\nstanding on a hill: most of the houses are in ruins, from the effect\nof the destructive war of La Vend\u00e9e. From thence to Le Palet, most\nintricate narrow roads, or more properly speaking, pathways, darkened\nby the overhanging branches of trees, and in many parts deep with\nmire, from the sun's rays not being able to dry the ground, make it\ndifficult to proceed, and we several times lost our way. It was late\nbefore we reached Le Palet, and though I had not tasted food for many\nhours, I could not resist stopping to view so interesting a spot, and\nmaking a hasty sketch of the ruins of the house in which Ab\u00e9lard\nwas born, and in which H\u00e9lo\u00efse resided with him before their final\nseparation. The ruins of the House of B\u00e9renger, the father of Ab\u00e9lard,\nare close to the church of Palet, on the left of the high road, three\nmiles distant from Clisson. Le Palet is thus described by a French\nauthor, in the history of the Province.\n\n\"Cet homme si c\u00e9l\u00e8bre par son savoir, ses amours, et ses infortunes,\namena H\u00e9lo\u00efse au Palet lorsqu'il l'e\u00fbt enlev\u00e9e de chez le Chanoine\nFulbert, pour la soustraire au ressentiment de cet oncle jaloux\net barbare; mais, oblig\u00e9 de quitter cette retraite paisible pour\nretourner \u00e0 Paris, o\u00f9 l'appelaient ses nombreux disciples, le soin de\nsa gloire et de sa fortune, Ab\u00e9lard confia \u00e0 sa soeur sa ch\u00e8re H\u00e9lo\u00efse\net le gage pr\u00e9cieux qu'elle portait dans son sein. Elle accoucha au\nPalet d'un fils d'une si rare beaut\u00e9, qu'elle le nomma Astralabe,\nc'est-\u00e0-dire, astre brillant; mais l'absence de celui qu'elle adorait\nrendait moins vifs pour elle les doux plaisirs de la maternit\u00e9; son\n\u00e2me expansive et br\u00fblante \u00e9tait livr\u00e9e sans cesse \u00e0 une inqui\u00e8te et\nsombre m\u00e9lancholie qu'elle ne parvenait sans doute \u00e0 dissiper qu'en\nvenant sur les bords de la S\u00e8vres r\u00eaver \u00e0 l'objet de sa tendresse, et\nsoupirer apr\u00e8s son retour. Sept si\u00e8cles se sont \u00e9coul\u00e9s depuis cette\n\u00e9poque, et les noms d'Ab\u00e9lard et d'H\u00e9lo\u00efse embellissent toujours ce\nd\u00e9licieux ravage. On interroge avec une curiosit\u00e9 avide ces roches\n\u00e9ternelles et ces grottes myst\u00e9rieuses qui furent les t\u00e9moins discrets\nde leurs peines et de leurs plaisirs. On se reporte \u00e0 ces temps\nrecul\u00e9s o\u00f9 ces amants venaient dans cette solitude enchanteresse, se\nconfier mutuellement leur vifs inqui\u00e9tudes; on croit les voir s'\u00e9garer\nsous ces riants ombrages, et s'abandonner \u00e0 toutes les inspirations de\nl'\u00e9loquence, \u00e0 toutes les illusions de l'amour\".\n\nI arrived at Clisson just as the sun was disappearing, and its rays\nwere only sufficiently strong to reflect the ruined towers of the\nCastle in the river which runs at its foot. It will be much easier\nto imagine, than for me to convey the sensations I felt when I first\ncaught a glimpse of it, with the story of La Roche-Jaquelin full in\nmy recollection! I alighted at a small cabaret, dignified by the\nappellation of the Hotel de la Providence, which seemed preferable to\nanother recommended to me by my guide,--such an one, indeed, as might\nbe expected in a remote place like this: part of the roof was off,\nand, like most of the houses in the place, bore evident marks of the\ndesolating war that had been carried on here: many are still in ruins.\nThe descent into the town is very steep and rugged, the road being\nformed out of the solid rock. The master of the cabaret was sitting\nwith his family at the door, but the appearance of his mansion was so\nunpromising, that I thought it best to make some agreement, and a few\ninquiries before dismounting;--these preliminaries being settled, and\nhaving consented to pay him fifty sous for supper and my bed, and\nthirty for breakfast, I entered the house: and never recollect having\na keener relish for a meal, or enjoying one more heartily, for I had\nbeen sixteen hours on horseback.\n\nFatigued and exhausted as I was, I rambled after dinner towards the\ndelightful grounds of La Garenne, belonging to Monsieur La Motte, who\nhas embellished them in a most interesting and romantic manner.\n\nThe river S\u00e8vres runs along the side, and separates them from the fine\nold Castle of Clisson, whose high and decaying towers and battlements\ngive the beholder a noble idea of its ancient grandeur. The evening\nwas a very fine one,--one of those delightful soft, clear skies usual\nat this season, the latter end of July. I sat myself down in the\ngrotto of H\u00e9lo\u00efse,--a spot of the deepest seclusion, formed, by the\nhand of Nature, of large masses of granite. The nightingales were\nsinging in the lofty trees at the back; on the sides were shrubs of\nevery description intermingled with fruit trees, and the river having\nseveral falls and little rocky islets, gave an air of delightful\nenchantment to this most romantic scene.\n\n  H\u00e9lo\u00efse! \u00e0 ce nom, qui ne doit s'attendrir?\n  Comme elle sut aimer! comme elle sut souffrir!\n\nAt the entrance of the grotto are engraved these lines, nearly effaced\nby the hand of time.\n\n  H\u00e9lo\u00efse peut-\u00eatre erra sur ce rivage,\n  Quand, aux yeux des jaloux d\u00e9robant son s\u00e9jour,\n  Dans les murs du Palet elle vint mettre au jour\n  Un fils, cher et malheureux gage\n  De ses plaisirs furtifs et de son tendre amour.\n  Peut-\u00eatre en ce r\u00e9duit sauvage,\n  Seule, plus d'une fois, elle vint soupirer,\n  Et go\u00fbter librement la douceur de pleurer;\n  Peut-\u00eatre sur ce roc assise\n  Elle r\u00eavait \u00e0 son malheur.\n  J'y veux r\u00eaver aussi; j'y veux remplir mon coeur\n  Du doux souvenir d'H\u00e9lo\u00efse.\n\nI had but a few weeks before seen the tomb of Ab\u00e9lard and H\u00e9lo\u00efse in\nthe Cemetery of P\u00e8re la Chaise at Paris, whither it had been recently\nremoved from the Convent of the Augustins, at which latter place I\nhad formerly made the annexed drawing of it. I had likewise been very\nlately at Argenteuil, once the place of her asylum described by Pope:\n\n  In these deep solitudes and awful cells--\n\nand had the same day witnessed the ruins of the house in which Ab\u00e9lard\nwas born, and in which H\u00e9lo\u00efse resided and became a mother, and from\nwhence she used to make frequent visits to this spot: all these\ncircumstances combined, gave the scene before me a most powerful\ninterest. I rose early the next day, anxious to revisit a place which\nhad afforded me such delight the previous evening. Wandering by the\nbeautiful banks of the river, along its green meadows, in a woody\nrecess, I observed the following lines beneath an urn, cut in the rock\non which it rested:\n\n  Consacrer dans l'obscurit\u00e9,\n  Ses loisirs \u00e0 l'\u00e9tude, \u00e0 l'amiti\u00e9 sa vie,\n  Sont des plaisirs dignes d'envie;\n  Etre ch\u00e9ri vaut mieux qu'\u00eatre vant\u00e9!\n\n[Illustration: RUINS OF AB\u00c9LARD'S HOUSE.]\n\nA little further on, is a stone pillar, with a venerable accacia tree\nspreading its leaves over it. It has the following Latin inscription:\n\n  VII\n\n  IM CAESAR\n  AVGVSTVS\n  PONTIFEX MAX\n  VIAM. OLIM\n  A CONIVINCO\n  AD LIMONEM\n\n  IMP. CAESAR. TRAJ.\n  ADRIANVS AVG\n  PM. TRIB. POT.\n  VIAM AB AVGVSTO\n  STATAM REFICIT.[8]\n\n\n[Footnote 8: Auguste \u00e9tendit jusqu'\u00e0 La Loire La Gaule Aquitanique,\nautrefois born\u00e9e par la Garonne, et comprit L'Armorique dans la\nProvince Celtique ou Lyonnaise. L'Empereur Adrian, ayant fait depuis\nune nouvelle distribution des Gaules, divisa La Lyonnaise en deux, et\nmit L'Armorique dans la seconde; enfin cette Lyonnaise ou Celtique\nayant \u00e9t\u00e9 encore divis\u00e9e en deux, Tours devint la M\u00e9tropole de la\ntroisi\u00e8me, qui comprenait la Touraine, le Maine, l'Anjou, et la\nBretagne.--_Histoire de Bret_.]\n\n[Illustration: GROTTO of H\u00c9LO\u00cfSE at CLISSON.]\n\n[Illustration: TOMB of AB\u00c9LARD and H\u00c9LO\u00cfSE.]\n\nFarther on several large blocks of granite are piled together in so\nstrange and curious a manner, that it must have been the work of\nNature alone:--one of them has these beautiful lines carved on it:\n\n  O! Limpide Rivi\u00e8re! O Rivi\u00e8re ch\u00e9rie!\n  Puisse la sotte vanit\u00e9\n  Ne jamais d\u00e9daigner ta rive humble et fleurie!\n  Que ton simple sentier ne soit point fr\u00e9quent\u00e9\n  Par aucun tourment de la vie\n  Tels que l'ambition, l'envie,\n  L'avarice, et la fausset\u00e9!\n  Un bocage si frais, un s\u00e9jour si tranquille,\n  Aux tendres sentiments doit seul servir d'azile.\n  Ces rameaux amoureux entrelass\u00e9s expr\u00e8s\n  Aux Muses, aux Amours, offrent leur voile \u00e9pais;\n  Et ce cristal d'une onde pure\n  A jamais ne doit r\u00e9fl\u00e9chir\n  Que les gr\u00e2ces de la nature\n  Et les images du plaisir.\n\nClose to the brink of the river stands a prodigiously large granite\nrock, immediately facing the waterfall called le Bassin de Diane: on\nit are these words:\n\n  SA MASSE INDESTRVCTIBLE\n  A FATIGV\u00c9 LE TEMS.\n  a quotation from Delille.\n\n[Illustration: GRANITE ROCK in the GARENNE.]\n\nThe French writers, speaking of this interesting place, observe:\n\"Comment soup\u00e7onner en effet qu'au milieu de cette _terrible Vend\u00e9e_,\nqu'au centre de cet imp\u00e9n\u00e9trable et sombre Bocage, il existe un pays\nd\u00e9licieux et fertile, couvert de mines s\u00e9culaires qui rappelent tous\nles souvenirs historiques de notre ancienne France, comme le caract\u00e8re\nde ses habitans en rappele les moeurs, le courage, et la loyaut\u00e9\".\n\nOn the opposite side of the river, a little to the right, stands the\nancient Ch\u00e2teau de Clisson, celebrated in the modern as well as the\nancient history of Bretagne. Its lofty turrets, and decaying bastions,\nextend a considerable distance along the shore of the S\u00e8vres,\nrecalling to mind the ancient days of chivalry, when bravery, love,\nand religion, were so singularly blended together, and gave a romantic\nhalf-polished manner to the greatest barbarians. In later times it\nbecame the scene of events which no one can contemplate without the\ndeepest interest. In viewing this magnificent ruin, it is impossible\nnot to regret that a place so frequently the theatre of noble\nachievements, inhabited by one of the greatest men that France has\nproduced, Fran\u00e7ois I. Conn\u00e9table de Clisson,[9] father to Anne of\nBretagne, should have been so recently the scene of such savage\nhorrors and bloodshed! Now, all is silence and solitude: and amidst\nthe noble ruins which were once decorated with banners, and the\nhard-earned trophies of victory,--where high-born knights and splendid\ndames mingled in mirth and festivity to the echoes of the minstrels,\nsinging lays of love or battle,--are now only to be seen and heard the\nbirds of prey, hovering over a solitary tree, planted to mark the spot\nwhere a deed was committed which has not often its parallel in the\ndarkest histories of the most ferocious nations.\n\n[Footnote 9: In the \"Histoire G\u00e9n\u00e9alogique de France\", tom. vi. is an\naccount of the Constable's death. \"The Duke of Orleans, brother to the\nking, was very fond of a Jewess, whom he privately visited. Having\nsome reason to suspect that Peter de Craon, Lord of Sabl\u00e9 and de la\nFert\u00e9-Bernard, his chamberlain and favourite, had joked with the\nDuchess of Orleans upon his intrigue, he turned him out of his house\nwith infamy. Craon imputed his disgrace partly to the Constable of\nClisson. On the night of the 13th June, having waited for him at the\ncorner of the street _Coulture Ste. Catherine_, and finding he had but\nlittle company with him, he fell upon him at the head of a score of\nruffians. Clisson defended himself for some time without any other\nweapon than a small cutlass; but after receiving three wounds, fell\nfrom his horse, and pitched against a door, which flew open. The\nreport of this assassination reached the king's ears just as he was\nstepping into bed. He put on a great coat and his shoes, and repaired\nto the place where he was informed his constable had been killed. He\nfound him in a baker's shop, wallowing in his blood. After his wounds\nwere examined, \"Constable, (said he to him), nothing was or ever will\nhe so severely punished\". It was given out that Clisson made his will\nthe next day, and there was a mighty outcry about the sum of 1,700,000\nlivres, which it amounted to. It should be observed, that during\ntwenty-five years that he was in the service of France, he had sought\nfor and beaten the English every where; that he gained the famous\nbattle of Robeck, and chastised the Flemish; that he enjoyed for\ntwelve years the salary and appointments of Constable; and that,\nmoreover, his landed estate, (which included many castles inherited\nfrom his ancestors, in Bretagne and Poitou,) was very considerable.\"]\n\nDuring the Vendean war, the royalists had been driven out of Clisson\nby the republicans, under the command of a ferocious jacobin. The town\nwas pillaged and burnt before they quitted it. Twenty-seven females\nhad, during the battle, concealed themselves among the ruins: when\ninformation of it was given to the troops, who had already quitted the\nplace, they were ordered to return, and the whole of these unhappy\nwomen were thrown alive into a well, where they perished!!! It has\nsince been filled up, and the lonely tree, just mentioned, now records\nthe bloody and inhuman deed.\n\nIn the account of Clisson, by a late French author, no notice is\ntaken of this circumstance. He merely observes, when mentioning the\ndestruction of the place, after the de la Roche-Jaquelin had quitted\nit, \"Les Rives ombrag\u00e9es de la S\u00e8vres, si s\u00e9duisante par ses belles\ncascades et l'ensemble de ce paysage po\u00e9tique, feroient de cette\ncontr\u00e9e un s\u00e9jour d\u00e9licieux, si de tristes d\u00e9bris, qui heureusement\ndisparoissent tous les jours, ne rappelaient encore le souvenir\naffligeant de nos discordes civiles. Les arm\u00e9es R\u00e9volutionnaires qui\ncombattirent les Vend\u00e9ens, en 1793 et en 1794, employ\u00e8rent inutilement\npour les r\u00e9duire le fer et le feu; la flamme atteignit les villes, les\nvillages, les m\u00e9tairies, et jusqu'aux humbles chaumi\u00e8res; et, dans ce\nvaste et \u00e9pouvantable incendie, Clisson ne put \u00e9chapper \u00e0 une ruine\ncompl\u00e8te. Jamais peut-\u00eatre cette petite ville ne se seroit enti\u00e8rement\nr\u00e9\u00e9difi\u00e9, sans une circonstance particuli\u00e8re qui contribua puissamment\n\u00e0 la faire reno\u00eetre de ces cendres\".\n\nIn the town of Clisson was born the celebrated Barin de la\nGalissonniere, Admiral of France, who fought the well-known action\noff Mahon, in the month of June, 1756, with Admiral Byng, who, in\nconsequence of his conduct on that occasion, was brought to a court\nmartial and shot. The French writers make the following absurd remark,\nas to the _cause_ of his fate: \"Les Anglais, furieux d'avoir \u00e9t\u00e9\nvaincus par un Amiral Fran\u00e7ois, firent fusiller l'Amiral Byng\". It is\nnow well known that he was sacrificed to an unprincipled ministerial\nfaction.\n\nThe ancient Ch\u00e2teau de Clisson is built on a rock, on the bank of the\nS\u00e8vres, facing the mouth of the river, called Le Moine, which empties\nitself into the S\u00e8vres at this place, so that the town of Clisson\nstands between the two rivers at their junction. An ancient bridge,\nfrom whence this view is taken, joins one part of the town to the\nother, and leads to the castle, which was once considered the barrier\nof Bretagne. The two rivers run over a bed of granite rock, which, in\nsome places, forming a cataract, adds considerably to the surrounding\nscenery: large masses of this rock in many parts seem as if piled up\nby nature for the purpose of giving it a more romantic effect. The\nwhole forms a most picturesque object, when viewed from the opposite\nshore, from whence the sketch of the temple erected on the ruin of St.\nGilles is taken; and the remembrance of its recent fate throws over\nthe scene a strong and melancholy interest.\n\n[Illustration: RUINS OF CLISSON.]\n\nThe castle is supposed to have been first erected by the Romans,\nas the Province formed a part of the Gaule Aquitanique, under the\nEmperors Augustus and Adrian.\n\nThe French repaired it during the reign of Louis VIII. in 1223, under\nOlivier I. Sire de Clisson, as he is styled; and it was made a regular\nfortification, and surrounded by a wall a century after, by the\nConn\u00e9table: in 1464 the Duc de Bretagne, Francis II. entirely finished\nit.\n\nThe Sire de Clisson, Olivier I. who had served during one of the\nCrusades in Palestine, was knighted with several others, in 1218. \"Un\nnombre prodigieux de Seigneurs Anglais, Normands, Angevins, Manceaux,\nTourangeaux, et Bretons, prirent la Croix; Le Pape, Innocent III.\nenvoya en Bretagne, en 1197, Helvain, Moine de St. Denis, pour y\npr\u00eacher une croisade. Une grande quantit\u00e9 de Bretons se laiss\u00e8rent\nconduire en Syrie par ce Moine; et, en 1218, plusieurs Seigneurs\nBretons suivirent leur exemple, entre autres, Herv\u00e9 de L\u00e9on, Morvau,\nVicomte du Fou, et le Sire de Clisson\".\n\nFrom the construction of the towers and bastions, it is supposed that\nat his return from the Holy Land, he had copied the Syrian style of\nbuilding; and one of the towers, which is represented in the sketch\nof the gateway of the Ch\u00e2teau de Clisson, is still called La Tour des\nP\u00e9lerins.\n\nThis tower, which has been used as a dungeon, is the most perfect of\nany remaining. In it are subterranean galleries, anciently used as a\nprison, and appropriated by the republicans to the same purpose. It is\ndreadful to think of the horrors that have been practised within its\nwalls, in our own time.\n\n[Illustration: TOUR des P\u00c9LERINS.]\n\nFrom the top of this tower the prospect is very extensive, and, during\nthe year 1793, when the republican army quartered themselves in it, a\nsentinel was placed there to give notice in case of the approach of an\nenemy. The historian of that period, speaking of the entrance to this\ntower, observes, in reference to the cruelties committed there in the\nVendean war:\n\n\"Il existait au milieu de la derni\u00e8re cour un tr\u00e8s beau puits, taill\u00e9\ndans le roc et extr\u00eamement profond: il est actuellement combl\u00e9, et\nma plume se refuse \u00e0 tracer les sc\u00e8nes horribles qui ensanglant\u00e8rent\nce lieu en 1793 et en 1795, tristes et \u00e9pouvantables effets des\nguerres civiles!\"\n\nThis passage alludes, I imagine, to the circumstance related in\npage 90. Within its walls are various inscriptions, many of them in\ncharacters so difficult to decypher, that they remain unknown. The\nfollowing has been rendered into more modern French by Cerutti.\n\n  J'ai gravi, mesur\u00e9 ces ruines sublimes;\n  Mon coeur s'en est \u00e9mu! De nos vaillants a\u00efeux\n  Tout y repr\u00e9sentait les tournois magnanimes,\n  Ils semblaient repar\u00f4itre et combattre \u00e0 mes yeux;\n  J'entendois sous leurs coups retentir les ab\u00eemes;\n  Juge de leurs combats, idole de leur coeur,\n  Du haut des tours, la dame admiroit le vainqueur.\n  Casques et boucliers, cuirasses gigantesques,\n  Cris d'armes, mot d'amour, devises de l'honneur,\n  Carlets pour l'infid\u00e8le ou pour le suborneur,\n  Tout garde sur ces murs vraiment chevaleresques.\n  La m\u00e9moire d'un si\u00e8cle o\u00f9 l'\u00e9p\u00e9e, o\u00f9 la foi,\n  O\u00f9 la galanterie \u00e9taient la seule loi.\n\nLouis IX. and Blanche of Castille, his queen, retired to Clisson, at\nthe time the English, under Henry III. penetrated into Poitou, and\nwere received by Olivier de Clisson, who then garrisoned it.\n\nIn the war of the League, which convulsed the kingdom of France,\nClisson remained faithful to Henry III. and during the early part\nof the reign of his successor Henry IV. The Protestants were there\nprotected, and established themselves in the fauxbourg. From the\nperiod at which Henry IV. signed the edict at Nantes, 15th April,\n1598, until the war of La Vend\u00e9e, this celebrated fortress is no where\nmentioned by any of the French historians: it became neglected when\nthe feudal system declined, and the republican army completed its\nruin. The sad events of this period, and the destruction and carnage\nwhich followed, can never be effaced from the page of history. The\nruined towns and villages prove the melancholy truth, that the general\ncorruption of a nation prepares the way for general anarchy, and that\nthe blindness of political rage is always more vindictive than even\nprivate hatred.\n\nI can never sufficiently lament the absence, at this time, of Madame\nde La Roche-Jaquelin from the country, as she occasionally resides in\nthe neighbourhood, since the restoration of her property, (although\nher once noble residence is now in a state of ruin,) occupying a small\nch\u00e2teau at some small distance, which had partly escaped the fire and\ndestruction that had been fatal to most houses in the district. Who\ncan read the interesting memoirs of this Lady, and not sympathize in\nthe sufferings of herself, and of those brave and loyal people whose\nheroic struggle against their republican oppressors lasted with little\nintermission from the overthrow of the monarchy until its final\nrestoration? Among the number of heroic females who, like Madame de\nla Roche-Jaquelin, thus distinguished themselves, was Madame de La\nRochefoucault who, like her admirer Charette, was put to death at\nNantes. This lady, of an ancient and noble family, and of great\nbeauty, signalized herself on various occasions, but being taken\nprisoner at the battle of the Moulin aux Ch\u00eavres, she was immediately\nshot!\n\n[Illustration: MILL AUX CH\u00caVRES.]\n\nThe whole history of this terrible war is filled with the noble\ndevotion of heroic females. The chiefs were attended in the most\nsanguinary battles by ladies, who had themselves ornamented their\nstandards with loyal and chivalrous emblems of the cause for which\nthey were prepared to sacrifice themselves, and who were frequently\nseen rallying the broken troops, and falling, covered with wounds, by\nthe hands of their enemies!\n\nThe annexed view of the Moulin aux Ch\u00eavres, which is rendered\ninteresting from the account given by Madame de la Roche-Jaquelin of\nthe battle fought near it, will convey a tolerable idea of the scenery\nof the country.\n\nThe prodigious growth of the willow tree in Bretagne, is such as to\nclaim the peculiar notice of travellers: here they attain a gigantic\nheight, no where else to be seen. Batard, in his \"_Notices sur\nles V\u00e9g\u00e9taux_\" mentions one in the commune of Pommeraie in the\narrondissement de Beaupr\u00e9au, whose age was supposed to be nearly two\nthousand years. Within the Ch\u00e2teau at Clisson are some very old ones,\nbut the finest I observed were at the Moulin aux Ch\u00eavres.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VI.\n\nLIMITS AND GENERAL APPEARANCE OF LE BOCAGE. MODE OF WARFARE PRACTISED\nBY THE VENDEANS.\n\n\nMy opportunity of becoming acquainted with that singular district\ncalled Le Bocage, will be best understood by very briefly sketching my\nroute through it. I traversed it, and the district called Le Loroux,\nby the route of Montaigne and Lege, and on my return I passed through\nClisson, Vallet, and Loroux, along the banks of the Loire. By pursuing\nthis route, I had every where the interesting opportunity of exploring\nthe scene of that destructive warfare which had ravaged the towns and\nvillages of this part of France.\n\nAt one period, the war of La Vend\u00e9e extended to the north of the\nLoire, as far as Rennes, forming a triangle, the eastern point of\nwhich rested on the town of Angers. To the south of the Loire it\nspread nearly as far as la Rochelle; and as in this part also it\nextended nearly to Angers, the tract over which it spread its ravages\nformed nearly a square. The district called Loroux runs parallel with\nthe Loire: Le Bocage, which occupies both districts, and the whole\ncountry south of that river, is comprehended under the general\nappellation of La Vend\u00e9e. Under the old divisions of France Le Bocage\nformed part of the province of Poitou, and Le Loroux part of the\nprovinces of Anjou and Bretagne: but when, at the revolution, France\nwas divided into departments, these two districts were denominated La\nVend\u00e9e, Les deux S\u00e8vres, La Loire Inf\u00e9rieure, and Mayenne and Loire.\n\nLa Vend\u00e9e is an extremely interesting district, not merely on account\nof the singular and heroic warfare that was carried on there so\nlong, but also from the appearance of the country, and the manners,\nopinions, and general character of its inhabitants; and Le Bocage is,\nin all these respects, the most interesting part of La Vend\u00e9e. In\nLe Bocage, the war was carried on with most wonderful vigour and\npertinacity, as well as with almost unparalleled destruction and\ncruelty. Those who are acquainted only with the other parts of France,\ncan form no idea of the aspect of this district, or of the manners of\nits inhabitants; they differ so widely and essentially, that they seem\nto belong to another portion of the globe. It has always been regarded\nas the most fertile country in France; and, before the revolution, it\nwas undoubtedly one of the most populous.\n\nThere are only two roads in the whole country: one of them runs from\nNantes to la Rochelle, and the other from Bordeaux to Tours, through\nPoitou: all the rest of this district is a complete labyrinth: there\nare indeed numerous pathways, so very winding and narrow, that they\nare much more calculated to harass and mislead, than to assist a\ntraveller in his journey: these pathways are flanked by wide and deep\nditches, and almost rendered completely dark by lofty hedges on each\nside of them, the trees of which meet at top, and thus form an arch:\nhence they are rough and uneven in summer, besides being intolerably\nhot, and deep and miry in winter. To add to these inconveniences, the\nbed of a rivulet flowing along them frequently constitutes the only\npassage. Even when the traveller, after toiling along these dreadful\npathways, comes near a town or village, he generally finds that the\napproach to it is practicable only by ascending irregular steps,\ncut out of the solid rock, on which they are built. The inhabitants\nthemselves even are frequently puzzled by these pathways; and, after\nwandering for a considerable length of time, at last find out that\nthey have been travelling in a wrong direction.\n\nThe whole country bears the appearance of an extensive and thick\nforest: this arises from the nature of the enclosures; they are\nextremely small, often not more than fifty or sixty perches,\nsurrounded with strong hedges planted in the banks. These\ncircumstances alone would give the appearance just noticed; but the\neffect is much increased from other causes. On each side of the banks,\non which the trees are planted, there are ditches and drains, and the\nmoisture which they constantly supply to their roots, renders their\ngrowth very rapid and luxuriant; so that when we consider the number\nof the trees and their great size, we shall not be surprised that\nthe country looks like an immense forest. Sometimes the trees are so\ndisposed as to answer the purpose of a palisade; and this purpose they\nanswer most effectually, not only from the great size and strength of\nthe trees themselves, but also from the intervening spaces between\nthem being filled up with strong and impassable underwood [10].\n\n[Footnote 10: A tract of about 150 miles square, at the mouth and\non the southern bank of the Loire, comprehends the scene of those\ndeplorable hostilities. The most inland part of the district, and that\nin which the insurrection first broke out, is called _Le Bocage_; and\nseems to have been almost as singular in its physical conformation,\nas in the state and condition of its population. A series of detached\neminences, of no great elevation, rose over the whole face of the\ncountry, with little rills trickling in the hollows and occasional\ncliffs by their sides. The whole space was divided into small\nenclosures, each surrounded with tall wild hedges, and rows of pollard\ntrees; so that though there were few large woods, the whole region\nhad a sylvan and impenetrable appearance. The ground was mostly in\npasturage; and the landscape had, for the most part, an aspect of\nwild verdure, except that in the autumn some patches of yellow corn\nappeared here and there athwart their green enclosures. Only two great\nroads traversed this sequestered region, running nearly parallel, at\na distance of more than seventy miles from each other. In the\nintermediate space, there was nothing but a labyrinth of wild and\ndevious paths, crossing each other at the extremity of almost every\nfield--often serving, at the same time, as channels for the winter\ntorrents, and winding so capriciously among the innumerable hillocks,\nand beneath the meeting hedge-rows, that the natives themselves were\nalways in danger of losing their way when they went a league or\ntwo from their own habitations. The country, though rather thickly\npeopled, contained, as may be supposed, few large towns; and the\ninhabitants, devoted almost entirely to rural occupations, enjoyed a\ngreat deal of leisure. The noblesse or gentry of the country were very\ngenerally resident on their estates, where they lived in a style of\nsimplicity and homeliness which had long disappeared from every other\npart of the kingdom. No grand parks, fine gardens, or ornamented\nvillas; but spacious clumsy chateaux, surrounded with farm offices\nand cottages for the labourers. Their manners and way of life, too,\npartook of the same primitive rusticity. There was great cordiality,\nand even much familiarity, in the intercourse of the seigneurs with\ntheir dependants. They were followed by large trains of them in their\nhunting expeditions, which occupied so great a part of their time.\nEvery man had his fowling-piece, and was a marksman of fame or\npretensions. They were posted in various quarters, to intercept or\ndrive back the game; and were thus trained, by anticipation, to that\nsort of discipline and concert, in which their whole art of war was\nafterwards found to consist. Nor was their intimacy confined to their\nsports. The peasants resorted familiarly to their landlords for\nadvice, both legal and medical; and they repaid the visits in their\ndaily rambles, and entered with interest into all the details of their\nagricultural operations. They came to the weddings of their children,\ndrank with their guests, and made little presents to the young people.\nOn Sundays and holidays, all the retainers of the family assembled at\nthe ch\u00e2teau, and danced in the barn or the court-yard, according to\nthe season. The ladies of the house joined in the festivity, and that\nwithout any airs of condescension or of mockery; for, in their own\nlife, there was little splendour or luxurious refinement. They\ntravelled on horseback, or in heavy carriages drawn by oxen; and had\nlittle other amusement than in the care of their dependants, and the\nfamiliar intercourse of neighbours among whom there was no rivalry or\nprinciple of ostentation.\n\nFrom all this there resulted, as Madame de L. assures us, a certain\ninnocence and kindliness of character, joined with great hardihood and\ngaiety,--which reminds us of Henry IV. and his B\u00e9arnois,--and carries\nwith it, perhaps on account of that association, an idea of something\nmore chivalrous and romantic--more honest and unsophisticated, than\nany thing we expect to meet with in this modern world of artifice and\nderision. There was great purity of morals accordingly, Mad. de\nL. informs us, and general cheerfulness and content in all this\ndistrict;--crimes were never heard of, and lawsuits almost unknown.\nThough not very well educated, the population was exceedingly\ndevout;--though theirs was a kind of superstitious and traditional\ndevotion, it must he owned, rather than an enlightened or rational\nfaith. They had the greatest veneration for crucifixes and images of\ntheir saints, and had no idea of any duty more imperious than that of\nattending on all the solemnities of religion. They were singularly\nattached also to their cur\u00e9s, who were almost all born and bred in the\ncountry, spoke their _patois_, and shared in all their pastimes and\noccupations. When a hunting-match was to take place, the clergyman\nannounced it from the pulpit after prayers,--and then took his\nfowling-piece, and accompanied his congregation to the thicket. It was\non behalf of these cur\u00e9s, in fact, that the first disturbances were\nexcited.--_Edin. Rev. for Feb._ 1816.]\n\nThis luxuriance of growth does not proceed entirely from the moisture\nsupplied by the ditches and drains; the soil naturally is uncommonly\nfertile: and whatever springs from it, whether planted by the hand of\nman, and nourished, while growing, by his attention and skill, or its\nspontaneous production, bears witness to this uncommon fertility.\nThe country abounds in corn and vineyards; the produce of the latter\nconsists principally in white vines. At the season of the year when I\npassed through it, the intermixture of the rich and soft yellow of the\nwheat nearly ripe, with the light green foliage of the vines, produced\na most pleasing effect. In Poitou and Anjou, the harvest generally\nbegins about the latter end of June: this year it was late every\nwhere, but very abundant. The vineyards had mostly failed.\n\nLe Marais, which is also comprehended within the limits of Le Bocage,\nis that part of Lower Poitou, adjacent to the sea. There the country\nis open and flat, and the passes are impracticable during the winter,\nand very difficult at other seasons of the year. The inhabitants of Le\nMarais formed a division of the army of the celebrated chief Charette.\nLa Vend\u00e9e was divided into two circuits; each army had its own, until\nthe junction of the whole under La Roche-Jaquelin, &c; that of\nCharette occupied the district of Chalans, Machecoul, la Roche Sur\nYon, les Sables, a part of the districts of St. Florent, Vehiers,\nChollet, Ch\u00e2tillon, la Ch\u00e2taigneraie, a great part of the districts\nof Clisson, Montaigne, Thouars, Parthenay, and Fontenay-le-peuple.\nAlthough the locality of Le Bocage is a perfect contrast to that of le\nMarais, nature seems to have exerted all her power in forming these\ntwo districts into one extensive fortress, capable of opposing every\nthing to an attack, and presenting so many means of defence, that it\nwas rarely possible for the enemy to lead a column, or to regulate\nits movements so as to preserve union in its marches or manoeuvres,\ndispositions for an attack, or retreat. The positions of the Vendeans\ncould never be understood, or their projects foreseen, in a country\nwhere the frequent undulations of land, hedges, trees, and bushes,\nobstructing the surface, would not admit of seeing fifty paces round;\nand one of the republican generals, writing to the Convention,\nthus speaks of Charette's movements. \"It is no easy matter to find\nCharette, particularly to bring him to action. To-day at the head of\nten thousand men, the next day wandering with a score of horsemen, it\nis very rare that one can come up with him. When we believed him to be\nin our front, he was in our rear. Yesterday he threatened such a post,\nto-day he is ten leagues from it; more able to avoid than fight us,\nhe almost always disconcerts, and often, without knowing it, all our\ncombinations. He endeavours to surprise us, to carry off our patroles,\nand to kill our stragglers\".\n\nThe inhabitants of le Marais and le Bocage for a long period confined\nthemselves to defensive warfare, for which nature seems to have formed\ntheir country. The situation of le Marais enabled the brave royalists\nto receive succours from the English, and to facilitate and protect\nthe debarkation of such as they wished to procure from the North side\nof the Loire, the coast being flat and easy of access by sea.\n\nThe Vendeans, favoured by every natural advantage, had a peculiar\ntactic which they knew perfectly well how to apply to their position\nand local circumstances, and adopted a mode of fighting hitherto\nunknown, and practicable in that country alone. Confident in the\nsuperiority which their mode of attack gave them, they never suffered\nthemselves to be anticipated, they never engaged but when and\nwhere they pleased. Their dexterity in the use of fire arms was such,\nthat no people, however well skilled in manoeuvring, could make such\ngood use of a gun; the huntsman of Loroux, and the poacher of le\nBocage, having been always proverbial as excellent marksmen. It was no\nunusual thing for the Vendeans when at the plough, to carry with them\na musket; and whenever they observed \"a blue coat,\" (as they called\nthe republican soldiers) they stopt their plough, took up their\nmusket, and fired at him; it seldom happened that they missed the\nobject of their vengeance. A melancholy circumstance, connected with\nthis mode of warfare, took place: the son of one of the Vendean\nfarmers, or ploughmen, had been compelled to join the republican army;\nbut having succeeded in escaping, he was hastening, in his republican\nuniform, to rejoin his relations, when being observed by his father,\nwhile at the plough, the latter, unable from the distance to recognize\nhis son, and seeing only the uniform of an enemy, fired and shot him.\n\nTheir attacks were always dreadful, sudden, and almost unforeseen,\nbecause it was very difficult to reconnoitre or obtain information so\nas to guard against surprise. Their order of battle was generally in\nthe form of a crescent, their wings being composed of the most expert\nmarksmen, who never fired without taking aim, and seldom ever missed.\nTheir retreat was so precipitate that it was difficult to come up\nwith them, as they dispersed themselves through rough fields, hedges,\nwoods, and bushes, knew all the bye-roads, secret escapes and defiles,\nand were acquainted with all the obstacles which could obstruct their\nflight, and the means of avoiding them. Their mode of warfare was\naccording to the locality of the country, well calculated to prolong\nthe struggle and waste the strength of the forces sent to oppose them.\nIn the district of les Sables, intersected by canals, rivulets, and\nsalt marshes, where there were scarcely carriage roads, but chiefly\nbye-ways, and raised paths, a species of natural fortification was\nevery where formed: this rendered any attack against them dangerous,\nand consequently it was most favourable for defence, particularly to\nthe inhabitants. The canals are in general from thirty to forty feet\nwide on the upper extremity of the banks. The Vendean, carrying his\nmusket in a bandoleer, and leaning upon a long pole, leaped from one\nbank to the other with amazing facility. When the pressure of the\nenemy would not admit of his doing this, without exposing himself to\ntheir fire, he threw himself into a niole, (a kind of small boat,)\nvery flat, and light, and crossed the canal with great rapidity, being\nalways sufficiently shut up to hide himself from his pursuers: but he\nsoon appeared again, and firing at his enemy, again disappeared. The\nrepublican soldier to whom this mode of fighting was unknown, was\nobliged to be continually upon his guard, to march along the shores of\nthe canals, and to follow slowly their circuitous track, supporting at\nthe same time frequent skirmishes, while it took him several hours\nto traverse a space which the Vendean commonly accomplished in a few\nminutes.\n\nAmong the difficulties which the execution of all military plans met\nwith in La Vend\u00e9e, the nature and degree of which may be judged of\nfrom the local dispositions and the kind of warfare carried on by the\nroyalists, there was one which was invincible, and which singularly\nretarded the operations of the republicans. Whenever they were\ndesirous of sending an order from head quarters to a division at the\ndistance of twelve or fifteen leagues, the messenger was often obliged\nto travel fifty or sixty in order to avoid passing through the\nrevolted country. Hence the impossibility of attempting any\nexpedition, however necessary or desirable, which required to be\nexecuted without delay. The Vendeans would appear one day at a certain\npoint to the number of several thousand men; measures were concerted\nfor attacking them the next day, but before that arrived they were\neight or ten leagues distant from the place where they had showed\nthemselves the day before.\n\nThus were the republicans exposed to fruitless victories or disastrous\nchecks, which exhausted their men and resources. Masters of the field\nof battle, they found, says one of their generals, nothing but wooden\nshoes and some slain, never any arms or ammunition. The Vendean when\nperceived, would either hide or break his gun, and in surrendering his\nlife, seldom left his weapon. Being well acquainted with the country,\nand more dexterous than the republicans, they carried scarcely any\nartillery with them, four or five pieces sufficed for an army of\nthirty or forty thousand men; these were generally light field pieces.\nEqually sparing of ammunition, they took but few waggons, one alone\nserved the pieces, as they well knew it was not artillery that would\nprocure them the victory; thence, when the republicans met with any\ndisastrous affair, they lost from twenty to thirty pieces of cannon,\nand waggons in proportion; whereas when they gained a victory they\nacquired only two or three pieces of cannon, with scarcely any\nammunition.\n\nFrom this slight sketch of the nature of the country, so\ndisadvantageous to the invaders, and of the mode in which the Vendeans\ncarried on this unfortunate war, our surprise will cease at the\ndetermined and protracted resistance made to the republicans by this\nloyal and brave people. For many years they defended their beloved\ncountry, and endured privations, and accumulated miseries, such\nas human nature has seldom been exposed to. To use the words of a\nrepublican general, \"A girdle of fire enveloped the revolted country;\nfire, terror, and death, preceded the march\".\n\nBut the principal cause of the long resistance of the Vendeans must\nbe sought for in their moral character; they were most honourably\ndistinguished by an inviolable attachment to their party, and\nunlimited and unshaken confidence in their chiefs; and an earnest,\nwarm, but steady zeal, which supplied the place of discipline. Their\ninvincible courage, both active and passive, was proof against every\nkind of danger, fatigue, and want. It has been well observed that\n\"irregular and undisciplined wars are naturally far more prolific of\nextraordinary incidents, unexpected turns of fortune, and striking\ndisplays of individual talent, of vice and virtue, than the more\nsolemn movements of national hostility, where every thing is in\na great measure provided and foreseen; and where the inflexible\nsubordination of rank, and the severe exactions of a limited duty\nnot only take away the inducement, but the opportunity for those\nexaltations of personal feeling and adventure which produce the most\nlively interest, and lead to the most animating results. In the\nunconcerted proceedings of an insurgent population, all is experiment\nand all is passion. The heroic daring of a simple peasant lifts him\nat once to the rank of a leader, and kindles a general enthusiasm to\nwhich all things become possible\".\n\nFrom the operation of these causes the Vendeans were enabled to send\nforth formidable armies: and such was the confidence of the chiefs in\nthe troops, that they never would have been subdued if they had\nnot lost their leaders in the various hard fought actions, or\nbeen deprived of their services by their mutual jealousy. Another\ncircumstance proved equally fatal to them; after the fall of the\ngallant Lescure, they most imprudently quitted the strong country for\nthe open plains on the left bank of the Loire.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VII.\n\nRIVER LOIRE, FROM NANTES TO ANGERS.\n\n\nThe Loire is one of the finest rivers in France; and perhaps there is\nno river in the world, that equals that part of it, which flows from\nAngers to Nantes: the breadth of the stream; the islands of wood; the\nboldness, culture, and richness of its banks, all conspire to\nrender it worthy of this character. As a useful river it is equally\ncelebrated: its banks being bordered by rich and populous cities; and\nthe benefits it renders to industry and commerce being incalculable.\n\nIts stream is so rapid and strong, that in ascending it is generally\nnecessary from Nantes to Angers, to track the barge: this mode of\nproceeding, though slow, has its advantages; as it gives greater time\nand opportunity for observing all the various beauties of scenery\nwhich present themselves at every turn of the river.\n\nI embarked early in the morning with a favourable breeze from the\nwest: we soon began to be interested, and almost enchanted, with the\nrich and beautiful scenery, which almost every moment opened to our\nview in endless variety. This scenery not only pleased the eye and\nimagination by its beauty, but also excited high and deep interest\nby the fertility which it displayed. The banks were lined with corn\nfields, vineyards, or orchards. Occasionally the nature and interest\nof the prospect were agreeably diversified by the spire of a convent\nor the turrets of a chateau, rising above gardens or groves, or rich\nwoodlands. At other places there were still more decided marks of\npopulation, for villages, country-houses, and farms, caught the eye,\nand added to the charms by which it was so willingly and powerfully\ndetained.\n\nThe whole country on each side is well cultivated. But even this part\nof France, interesting and beautiful as it is, cannot be traversed\nwithout the recollection of the horrors of the revolution breaking in\nupon, and greatly damping the interest and pleasure derived from the\nview of the scenery. As we approached the ruined tower of Oudon,\nit was impossible not to feel a melancholy regret at the scenes of\nunparalleled bloodshed that took place on the rich and delightful\nbanks of this river during the phrenzy of the revolution. These\ndreadful recollections assailed us most powerfully as we came in view\nof Ancenis on the left, and of Saint Florent le Viel to the right.\nAt the latter place we stopped for the night. It was a fine serene\nevening, the wind had left us, and we were forced to track the shore\nfor some distance before we reached it: just as the sun was setting I\nmade a sketch of its ruined convent on the hill.\n\n[Illustration: TOUR D'OUDON on the RIVER LOIRE.]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter the defeat of the Vendean army, and their retreat across the\nLoire at this place, says a French writer, \"There were seen upon\nthe right bank, following the army, which increased prodigiously,\na multitude of bishops, priests, monks, religious persons, old\ncountesses, baronesses, &c. &c. who were carried off by cart-loads,\nand which did nothing but embarrass the army.[11] There were a great\nmany of them killed at the battle of Mans\".\n\n[Footnote 11: On gaining the heights of St. Florent, one of the most\nmournful, and at the same time most magnificent spectacles, burst upon\nthe eye. These heights form a vast semicircle; at the bottom of which\na broad bare plain extends to the edge of the water. Near an hundred\nthousand unhappy souls now blackened over that dreary expanse,--old\nmen, infants and women, mingled, with the half-armed soldiery,\ncaravans, crowded baggage waggons and teams of oxen, all full of\ndespair, impatience, anxiety and terror:--Behind, were the smoke\nof their burning villages, and the thunder of the hostile\nartillery;--before, the broad stream of the Loire, divided by a long\nlow island, also covered with the fugitives,--twenty frail barks\nplying in the stream--and, on the far banks, the disorderly movements\nof those who had effected the passage, and were waiting there to be\nrejoined by their companions. Such, Mad. de L. assures us, was the\ntumult and terror of the scene, and so awful the recollections it\ninspired, that it can never be effaced from the memory of any of\nthose who beheld it; and that many of its awe-struck spectators have\nconcurred in stating, that it brought forcibly to their imaginations\nthe unspeakable terrors of the great day of judgment.--_Edinb. Rev.\nNo. LI. p. 24._]\n\nIt is said that when the Prince Talmont, with the royalists, crossed\nover from Saint Florent, under the fire of the republican troops who\nhad taken possession of the heights, they consisted of thirty thousand\nindividuals, but that there were not twenty thousand warriors; among\nthem were five thousand women: arrived in the open country, without\nwarlike stores, they soon wanted provisions. This multitude created\na famine wherever it went, and suffered a famine itself. The first\nunsuccessful enterprize produced discouragement, and necessarily the\ndesertion of the army: it diminished two-thirds when it was repulsed\nat Angers; and when the chiefs, despairing (after the battle of Mans)\nof not being able to recross the Loire at Ancenis, led back the wrecks\nof the army to Savenay, it consisted only of fifteen thousand men,\nhalf dead with hunger and misery: the major part of these were\nexterminated by the republicans; the rest dispersed themselves, and\nfrom that time all efforts ceased. Prince de Talmont was arrested near\nErne, tried at Rennes, and executed at Laval: of the fate of Lescure\nand the other chiefs, a melancholy catalogue is furnished by Madame de\nla Roche-Jaquelin.\n\nThe wind favoring us the day following, we sailed at break of day, and\narrived at Angers at the close of a beautiful evening. The approach to\nthis town, in sailing up the river Mayenne, is highly picturesque; its\nancient castle is situated on a high rock overhanging the river; its\nwalls and antique towers, built by the English, have an imposing\neffect. The town stands in a plain, which, in the distance, being\nfringed with wood, together with the corn and meadow ground, give it\nthat richness and beauty that characterizes the whole country between\nNantes and Angers. The river Mayenne, and a small branch of the\nLoire, divide the town. It is the chief seat of the province of\nMaine-et-Loire, formerly the capital of Anjou. It is a large ancient\ncity, with a fine cathedral, a botanical garden, museum, and\nseveral manufactories of cottons; one of them in imitation of India\nhandkerchiefs. Here the last effort was made by the Vendeans, whose\nflight from it was immediately followed by the bloody and disastrous\naffair of Mans.\n\nI had now passed the provinces of Bretagne and Poitou, as they border\nthe Loire; and, in point of beautiful and romantic scenery, this\ndistrict can scarcely be surpassed. The left bank of the river,\nrunning along the country of Le Bocage, from Nantes to Angers, a\ndistance of seventy-two miles, is a continued range of lofty hills,\nagreeably diversified with corn lands, and studded with vineyards. The\nopposite bank is a more flat and variegated country, with pleasant\neminences and broad plains, watered by branches of the Loire, which in\nmany parts contains small islands covered with trees. The whole course\nof this fine river, as the eye sweeps and ranges over its banks,\npresents at almost every bend the view of villas enriched with\ngardens, orchards, and vineyards; castles, convents, and villages in\nruins! bearing innumerable evidences of the desolating war that has\ndestroyed them.\n\nThe religious communities, whose love of scenery and retirement in\ngeneral led them to prefer the most sequestered valleys, have in these\nprovinces chosen the most elevated and picturesque spots for the\nerection of their monasteries; and these, notwithstanding their\ndeserted and decaying state, prove the good taste of their ancient\npossessors, and the skill and industry with which they embellished\nthem. No situations could have been selected more abounding in\npicturesque combinations of magnificent landscapes.\n\nThe pleasure of the traveller in surveying such scenes, cannot but be\nfrequently interrupted, by the recollection of the various atrocities\nwhich the inhabitants of these fine provinces committed against each\nother, and of the immense number of innocent victims that were driven\nfrom their abode to perish by famine or the sword.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VIII.\n\nSAUMUR TO TOURS--TOURS--TOURS TO BLOIS--ORLEANS--AND ORLEANS TO\nPARIS.\n\n\nI hired a small carriage, called a _patache_, to convey me to Saumur\nand Tours; it is driven by a postillion with two horses, and is open\nin front, giving the traveller a better opportunity of viewing the\ncountry than in a close vehicle.\n\nThe town of Saumur is built on both banks of the Loire, with a\nhandsome stone bridge over it; an ancient castle, built on a high\nrock, commands the whole town. The road from Angers to this place is a\nhigh raised causeway, paved, and runs parallel to the river, within\na few paces of its banks, the whole distance. Here we entered into\nTouraine from the province of Anjou. From Saumur to Tours, the road\nis like the former. The river Loire is on the right hand, and a flat\nlevel country on the left, covered with orchards, groves, and meadows.\nThe road is every where raised so high, that it forms a very steep\ndeclivity, with narrow pathways down to the entrance of the cottages\nand villages, which are most romantically situated,--some in orchards,\nsome amidst vineyards, some in gardens, and others in recesses peeping\nfrom between the trees. The fences are fantastically interwoven with\nwreaths of the vines, which frequently creep up the trunk of a pear or\na cherry-tree, and cover the slated roofs of the houses, thereby, from\nthe natural luxuriance and wildness of their spreading branches in the\nfruit season, answering at once the purposes of utility and ornament;\nfor the slates, retaining the heat, ripen the grape sooner than any\nother mode of training. The corn was now ripe, and added to the\ninterest and beauty of the scenes; in many of the fields the reapers\nwere at work, and the harvest (which happily for France had not been\nso abundant for many years) was going on with the assistance of the\nfemale peasantry, who on all occasions partake and cheer the labours\nof the field.\n\nApproaching nearer to Tours, I had a fine view of the bridge, which is\nesteemed the handsomest in France. Between the branches of the trees,\nI now and then caught a glimpse of the spires of the church and\nbuildings, encompassed by extensive orchards and groves, and open\nvales between, varied by vineyards. It was a _jour de f\u00eate_, and as I\ndrove through the town the streets were gay with holyday people, and\ncrowded in some places with groups of women and girls, whose cheerful\ncountenances proved the admiration with which they viewed the\nperformances of some mountebanks.[12] Tours is the chief seat of the\npr\u00e9fecture of the Indre-et-Loire, formerly the capital of the province\nof Touraine, and is built on a plain on the bank of the Loire. The\nhouses are of a white stone, and in the principal streets well built\nand lofty: it is altogether one of the handsomest towns in France. The\nmain street, the rue Royale, can boast of a foot pavement, which is\nseldom to be met with in this country. The environs of the town are\nalso very beautiful; the luxuriance of the soil, abounding in vines,\nfruits, and every article of life, has attracted such numbers of\nEnglish to its vicinity, that Tours may be almost considered an\nEnglish colony.\n\n[Footnote 12: There is no city in Europe where there are more of\nthese sort of people to be seen than at Paris, on the boulevards and\ndifferent carrefours. The fondness of the Parisians for shows has\nexisted for ages. In a tariff of Saint Lewis for regulating the duties\nupon the different articles brought into Paris by the gate of the\nlittle Ch\u00e2telet, it is ordained, (Hist. LVIII. cxxxiii.) that\nwhosoever fetches a monkey into the city for sale, shall pay four\ndeniers; but if the monkey belongs to a merry-andrew, the merry-andrew\nshall be exempted from paying the duty, as well upon the said monkey\nas on every thing else he carries along with him, by causing his\nmonkey to play and dance before the collector! Hence is derived the\nproverb \"Payer en monnoie de singe,\" i.e. to laugh at a man instead of\npaying him. By another article, it is specified, that jugglers shall\nlikewise be exempt from all imposts, provided they sing a couplet of a\nsong before the toll-gatherer.]\n\n\nIts ancient cathedral is in good preservation, notwithstanding it\nbecame a prey to the licentious fanaticism of the republicans.\n\nThe hotel Saint Julien, where I resided during my stay, stands upon\nthe cloisters of an ancient abbey; and the church, with its fine\nGothic pillars, and chapels, remains a monument of those destructive\nand desolating times! The side aisles are stalls for horses and\ncattle, and the centre is a _remise_ for carriages and the public\ndiligences which run to this inn! The best hotel is the hotel du\nFaisan. The vast number of English who keep pouring into all the\nwestern provinces of this country, by degrees has affected the\nmarkets, and will continue to do so, as long as the rage for\nemigration lasts. At Tours, every article is one third dearer than at\nNantes, and in proportion as the capital is approached every thing\nbecomes more expensive; yet notwithstanding this, living is, and must\never be, infinitely cheaper than in England.\n\nIt certainly is no exaggeration to say, that France is richer in the\nproduction of fruits and vegetables than any country in Europe, for in\nno other can be found so many productions of the same climates of the\nearth, or a soil more naturally abundant. With the exception of some\nof the northern provinces, every part of France has wine, and the\nculture of that delicious fruit which produces it is mentioned in its\nearliest records. By a happy distribution, those provinces which do\nnot bear the vine, are abundantly supplied with other productions.\nNormandy and Bretagne abound in the finest fruits; Picardy, and the\nadjoining provinces, in corn. The riches of Lorraine are in its woods;\nTouraine has ever been famous for its plums and its pears. The banks\nof the Loire, and the valleys of Dauphin\u00e9, are celebrated for the\nrichness of their verdure and vegetation; and the more southern\nprovinces of Languedoc and Provence, partake of the climate and\nproductions of Italy and Spain.\n\nBetween Tours and Amboise, I passed the once celebrated Ch\u00e2teau of\nChanteloup, formerly the property of the Duc de Choiseuil, now the\nresidence of the Comte de Chaptal, who became the purchaser when it\nwas sold as national property.\n\nAt the distance of six miles from Blois, the road leads near enough to\nValen\u00e7ay to have a good view of its magnificent palace and grounds;\nthis place, now belonging to M. de Talleyrand, Prince et Duc de\nBenevento, (one of the most extraordinary characters who have figured\nso conspicuously during the present age,) is the more interesting,\nfrom having been so long the place of confinement of Ferdinand the\npresent King of Spain; and from whence our government tried to\nextricate him through the agency of Baron de Kolly, who lost his life\nin the attempt. This singular transaction has appeared in all the\npublic papers, but having had an opportunity of collecting the\nparticulars through a channel of undoubted authority, I consider it an\nanecdote of too interesting a nature, as connected with the subject\nbefore me, not to insert it here.\n\nIn 1810, our government laid a plan to liberate King Ferdinand VII. of\nSpain, similar to the one which had already effected the escape of\nthe Marquis de la Romana. The person entrusted with this commission,\nassumed the name of Baron de Kolly, and besides the necessary credit\nand credentials, he was furnished with the original letter, written by\nCharles IV. to George III. in 1802, notifying the marriage of his son,\nthe Prince of the Asturias, and containing a marginal note from the\nMarquis W.... in corroboration of his mission. A small squadron was\nalso sent to cruize off that part of the coast most contiguous to\nValen\u00e7ay, under the orders of Commodore C.... to be in readiness to\nreceive the royal fugitive. On a sudden the Baron de Kolly was seized,\nand the plan frustrated, but the real particulars were never known\nuntil after the events of the campaign of 1815.\n\nIn the course of the passage to St. Helena, Admiral C.... (who\nhad been entrusted with the project) expressed a wish to know of\nBuonaparte, by what means de Kolly had been discovered and arrested,\nand the true circumstances of the affair so totally unknown in\nEngland, adding, that if no motive of state policy intervened, he was\nanxious to hear the whole disclosure. Buonaparte readily consented,\nand told him that de Kolly arrived at Paris and lived in the greatest\nobscurity, dressed shabbily, and eating his meals only at cheap\ntraiteurs in the Fauxbourg St. Antoine. However, he was not satisfied\nwith the common wine served up, and would ask for the best Bordeaux,\nfor which he paid five francs per bottle. This contrast of poverty and\nluxury excited suspicions in the waiters of the two houses he thus\nfrequented, who being in the pay of the police, immediately sent in a\nreport. De Kolly was watched, and soon afterwards seized with all\nhis papers. Buonaparte said he then procured a person, as nearly\nresembling de Kolly as could be found, to carry on the English\nstratagem, under a hope that Ferdinand would have fallen into the\ntrap; and with all the original credentials, this agent of the French\npolice went into the castle of Valen\u00e7ay, under a pretext of selling\nsome trinkets. Ferdinand however, said Buonaparte, was too great a\ncoward to enter into the views proposed to him, but instantly gave\ninformation of what had been communicated, to his first chamberlain,\nAmazada, in a letter written to the governor of the castle!--By this\nmeans Ferdinand escaped being placed at the mercy of Buonaparte, whose\nintention was to intercept him in his flight.\n\nAlthough the conduct of Ferdinand was in this instance pusillanimous\nand cruel, it was next to an impossibility that he could have\neffected his escape. He was surrounded by guards and spies of every\ndescription, under the superintendence of M. Darberg, Auditor of the\nCouncil of State, and without whose leave no admittance could be\nobtained. Twenty-five horse gendarmes regularly mounted guard about\nthe castle, and every person found in its vicinity without a regular\npassport, was confined and strictly examined.\n\nAt a small distance, is the residence of Marshal Victor, Duc de\nBelluno, whom I met walking in the grounds. I was very civilly\npermitted to enter, on sending a message desiring permission, as a\ntraveller, to see it. It stands at the entrance of the village of\nM\u00e9nard, and was once the favourite residence of Madame de Pompadour,\nthe mistress of Louis XV. The river Loire winds beautifully beneath\nthe terrace. The grounds are of a vast extent, and tastefully laid\nout. Over the entrance, the workmen were then placing the arms of the\nMarshal, finely executed in stone.\n\nThe country is thickly enclosed on each side of the river, varied with\nhill and dale, clothed with vineyards. The villages and small towns\nalong the banks, as far as Orl\u00e9ans, are numerous and invariably\npicturesque. Nothing can be more beautiful than the natural festoons\nwhich are formed by the long shoots of the vines as they project over\nthe road. The peasants and the vignerons live in the midst of their\nvineyards; their dwellings are excavations in chalky strata of the\nsolid rock, which afford them warm and dry habitations; some of them\nwere so covered with the vines that the entrance was scarcely visible,\nand the comparison of them to so many birds nests is not badly\nimagined. The hedges were covered with wild thyme and rosemary; and\nthe clematis interwoven with honeysuckles and other fragrant flowers,\nrichly perfumed the air. The grapes in Touraine and Orl\u00e9anois are not\nabundant this year, but the wine that is expected to be made, will,\nit is supposed, from the dryness of the summer, be of an excellent\nquality.\n\nThe town of Orl\u00e9ans is memorable for the siege it sustained against\nthe English in 1428, when the maid of Orl\u00e9ans acquired so much renown,\nand whose barbarous execution at Rouen, cannot be remembered without\nfeelings of horror and indignation, and must ever remain a stain on\nthe memory of that brave soldier the Duke of Bedford. The transactions\nsubsequent to that event, led to the almost entire expulsion of the\nEnglish from France; and those glittering conquests which were an\nobject of more glory than interest, and had been purchased at such an\nexpense of blood and treasure, were from that time lost to the English\nnation.\n\nDuring the Revolution, the ancient statue of this celebrated female\nwas taken down and unfortunately destroyed, and one more modern, but\nless interesting, finely executed in bronze, has been since erected.\nShe is habited in armour, with a lance and shield, supposed to\nbe leading on the victorious troops. At the four angles, are the\nemblematical figures in relief, of the principal events of her\nsingular career. On a marble pedestal, is inscribed:\n\n  A JEANNE D'ARC.\n\nOrl\u00e9ans is the chief seat of the department of the Loiret, formerly\nthe capital of Orl\u00e9anais, on the river Loire, over which it has a\nhandsome bridge like the one at Tours, though not of such extent, as\nthe river here is not so wide, and very shallow. The communication by\nwater with Paris is carried on by means of a canal.\n\nThe church is one of the finest specimens of Gothic architecture I\nhave seen in France. The towers are of open fretwork, and in excellent\npreservation. More cheerful scenes of exuberant fertility are nowhere\nto be met with than along the banks of the river, and in the country\nsurrounding the town.\n\nFrom Orl\u00e9ans to Etampes, there is a plain of eighteen leagues in\nextent, the whole of which was covered with one entire tract of corn\nand vines; not an intervening hill or hillock; and the scene was\ndoubly interesting from the harvest carrying on in every direction as\nI traversed it.\n\nLeaving Etampes, I passed through the beautiful villages of Sceaux,\nBourg-la-Reine, and Fontenay-aux-Roses; the latter still contains the\nruins of the Palace of Colbert, the celebrated minister of Louis XIV.\n\nThe village of Fontenay-aux-Roses, is situated in a valley six miles\nfrom Paris, and takes its name from the culture of roses, which cover\nlarge tracts of ground. The proprietors sell the flowers to the\ndistillers for making rose water and essences, and the flower market\nis supplied with the choicest bouquets; it is likewise celebrated for\nits produce of the finest strawberries and peaches.\n\nThe beauty of its situation, and the association of its name with the\nsweetest of flowers, has attracted many of the wealthy inhabitants\nof the metropolis to reside in its vicinity, where they have summer\nhouses; among them is the Maire de Fontenay, Monsieur Ledru, whose\nhistory is singular and interesting.\n\nHis father, who was very wealthy, and a great miser, sent for him one\nmorning, at the time he had just attained his eighteenth year, and\nsaid to him: \"I began life at your age with half a crown; there is one\nfor you--go, and be as fortunate as I have been;\"--saying which, he\nturned him out of the house, and shut the door in his face.\n\nUndismayed at such unexpected and unnatural conduct on the part of his\nparent, whom he had never offended, the youth sought the advice and\nassistance of a friend, by whose opinion he applied himself to the\nstudy of medicine. After an indefatigable study at the Hotel Dieu, he\nbecame celebrated in his profession, and had the good fortune to\nbe employed by a lady of great wealth, whose life he saved. Out of\ngratitude, she proposed to become his wife, and to settle upon him an\nincome of fifty thousand livres, that he might give up his medical\npursuits; which, having accepted, he rewarded her by an attention and\nkindness suitable to the noble generosity of her conduct.\n\nThe revolution soon after occurred, and in the general wreck of\nproperty she lost all her fortune, it having been invested, either\nin the funds, or public securities. It then became the turn of Mons.\nLedru to support his wife, by renewing the practice of his profession,\nwhich soon placed them again in affluent circumstances.\n\nAt the death of his father, who left an immense fortune to be divided\nbetween Mons. Ledru and his two maiden sisters, he took possession\nof the estate at Fontenay-aux-Roses, from whence he had been cruelly\nbanished when a boy, and which the unkindness of his parent had never\nafter permitted him to enter. Fortune, which had hitherto played a\nwayward and capricious game with him, had not yet ceased her freaks.\nIn removing a mirror from over a chimney-piece which required an\nalteration, he discovered a prodigious treasure that had been\nconcealed there by his father! With that generosity and nobleness\nof character, which make him esteemed and beloved by all his\nacquaintance, and adored by the whole commune over which he presides,\nhe instantly sent for his sisters and divided it with them. His wife\ndid not long survive this last event, and since her death he has\ncontinued to reside at Fontenay-aux-Roses with his sisters, where\nhe exercises his authority with mildness; and by constant acts of\nbeneficence and charity, is justly styled, \"Le P\u00e8re de Fontenay!\"\n\nBetween Fontenay-aux-Roses and Paris, to the right of the road, is the\nvillage of Gentilly, whose numerous guinguettes are much frequented\nby the Parisians in fine weather. It being a holyday we met crowds of\nwell dressed citizens, in all sorts of vehicles, driving towards it.\nAn interesting circumstance had been related to me of the cur\u00e9 of this\nvillage, M. D\u00e9truissart; and on asking permission to visit his rural\nhabitation, I found the story to be true. His garden, which is not\nabove half an acre, has been laid out with such art and ingenuity, as\nto give an idea of considerable extent, and to add to the charms of\nthis little spot, which he calls his \"bonheur,\" there are a variety of\ninscriptions of his own composition; over an arbour of vines is the\nfollowing:--\n\n\n  MA SOLITUDE.\n\n  Loin des m\u00e9chans, du bruit, des temp\u00eates du monde,\n  Sous un simple berceau dont la treille est f\u00e9conde,\n  Sous un modeste to\u00eet, dans de rians jardins,\n  Dessin\u00e9s, \u00e9lev\u00e9s, cultiv\u00e9s par mes mains....\n  C'est dans ces lieux ch\u00e9ris que s'\u00e9coule ma vie\n  Dans une paix profonde, une tranquillit\u00e9\n  Qui sans cesse rappele \u00e0 mon ame ravie\n  Le temps de l'\u00e2ge d'or et ma f\u00e9licit\u00e9:\n  Mais, quelque doux qu'il soit, mon sort est peu de chose;\n  Car enfin, apr\u00e8s tout, je dois mourir bient\u00f4t!\n  Ne ressemblons-nous pas \u00e0 la feuille de rose\n  Qui paro\u00eet un instant et qui s\u00e8che aussit\u00f4t!\n\nIt was in the practice of the moral conveyed by these lines, and in\nthe pursuit of literature, and constant acts of charity, that Mons.\nD\u00e9truissart passed his life, which was rewarded by the esteem and\naffection of all his parishioners, of which they gave a remarkable\nproof on the 4th of July, 1815, when the Prussian troops took post at\nGentilly, from whence they had driven the French the preceding evening\ninto Paris.\n\nThe poor cur\u00e9, with many other of the inhabitants, sought refuge\nin the capital, leaving his house at the mercy of the enemy, who\ncommenced plundering in all directions; the humble and modest\nappearance of M. D\u00e9truissart's cottage not attracting their notice,\nit remained untouched, when a single word from any of the inhabitants\nwould have devoted it to ruin; but such was their esteem for him, that\nat his return he found every thing as he had left it.\n\nI entered Paris, leaving Bic\u00eatre to my right, by the barri\u00e8re d'Enfer,\nafter one of the most agreeable and interesting journeys I ever\nperformed.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. IX.\n\nENVIRONS OF PARIS--PERE LA CHAISE--CASTLE OF VINCENNES--AND CHATEAU OF\nST. GERMAIN--ITS FOREST AND VICINITY.\n\n\nPrior to the revolution, the French, like most other European nations,\nwere in the practice of depositing their dead in churches and\ncemeteries within the most populous towns, in compliance with those\nprecepts of evangelical doctrine which recommend us unceasingly to\nreflect on death; and hence originated a custom which cannot but be\nattended with most pernicious consequences to health, when we reflect\nthat the decomposition of human bodies is productive of putrid\nexhalations, and consequently pregnant with the causes of contagious\ndisorders. It is indeed surprising that some regulations have not\nhitherto been adopted in England regarding the interment of the dead,\nfrom the example of other countries.\n\nIn the year 1793, a decree was passed by the National Assembly, to\nprevent burying in churches, or in church-yards, within the city of\nParis. Since which period, there have been three places selected in\nits immediate neighbourhood for that purpose--Montmartre, called \"Le\nChamp du Repos\"--Vaugirard, and P\u00e8re La Chaise.\n\nQuitting the Boulevards, at the extremity of the Boulevards Neufs,\neastward of the city, and passing through the Barri\u00e8re d'Aulnay, I\narrived at the P\u00e8re La Chaise. At the entrance, through large folding\ngates, is a spacious court-yard, having at one angle the dwelling\nof the Concierge, or Keeper. The enclosure contains one hundred and\ntwenty acres, on a gently rising ground, in the centre of which stands\nthe ancient mansion constructed by Louis XIV. for his confessor, P\u00e8re\nla Chaise, the celebrated Jesuit, who, with Madame de Maintenon,\ngoverned France. Rising above the thousands of tombs which surround\nit, it displays itself a wrecked and mouldering monument of ancient\nsplendour, and the mutability of human affairs! This spot became\nafterwards a place of public promenade and great resort, from the\nbeauty of its position overlooking all Paris; and though so often\nthe scene of festivity and pleasure, now presents to the eye of the\nbeholder a mournfully interesting sight of tombs and sarcophagi,\nintermixed with various fruit trees, cypress groves, the choicest\nflowers, and rarest shrubs.\n\nFrom the rising ground, above the building of P\u00e8re La Chaise, a most\ndelightful view displays itself. The city of Paris appears to stand\nin the centre of a vast amphitheatre. The heights of Belleville,\nMontmartre, and M\u00e9nilmontant, in the west. To the east, the beautiful\nplain of Saint-Mand\u00e9, Montreuil, and Vincennes, with the lofty towers\nof its fortress.--The fertile banks of the river Marne, are on the\nNorth, and in the South, the horizon encircles Bic\u00eatre and Meudon.\n\nThe various tombs are placed without order or regularity: they are\nmostly enclosed with trellis work of wood, sometimes by iron railing;\nand consist of a small marble column, a pyramid, a sarcophagus, or a\nsingle slab, just as may have suited the fancy or the taste of the\nfriends of the departed.--Some surrounded with cypress, some with\nroses, myrtles, and the choicest exotics; others with evergreens, and\nnot unfrequently a single weeping willow, with the addition of a rose\ntree!\n\nThis intermixture of the sweetest scented flowers and fruit trees, in\na burying ground, among the finest pieces of sculptured marble, with\nevergreens growing over them, in the form of arbours, and furnished\nwith seats, cannot fail to produce in the mind of the person who views\nit for the first time, peculiar and uncommon feelings of domestic\nmelancholy, mingled with pleasing tenderness.\n\nWho could be otherwise than powerfully affected, as I was, by the\nfirst objects that presented themselves to me on entering the\nplace?--A mother and her two sons, kneeling in pious devotion at the\nfoot of the husband's and the father's grave! At a short distance, a\nfemale of elegant form, watering and dressing the earth around some\nplants at her lover's tomb!--not a day, and seldom an hour, passes,\nbut some one is seen either weeping over the remains of a departed\nrelative, or watching with pious solicitude the flowers that spring up\naround it.\n\nAmong the many interesting objects that presented themselves at my\nfirst visit, was the tomb of Ab\u00e9lard and H\u00e9lo\u00efse, which had not long\nsince been removed from the convent of the Augustins, where I had seen\nit in 1815.\n\nAt a little distance, to the left of the former, was the burial place\nof Lab\u00e9doy\u00e8re. The fate of this brave and unfortunate officer is well\nknown; his youth, and misled zeal, have procured him a sympathy which\nhis fellow sufferer Marshal Ney did not find, and did not merit.\n\nIn the centre of a square plot of ground enclosed with lattice work,\nis erected a wooden cross, painted black. Neither marble, nor stone,\nnor letters, indicate his name. Two pots of roses, and a tuft of\nviolets, alone marked the spot, which is carefully weeded. There is\nsomething more affecting in all this simplicity, something, in my\nmind, that goes more directly home to the heart, than in the most\nsplendid monument or the most studied eulogium. As we came suddenly up\nwe saw two females clad in deep mourning, weeping over it; at each\narm of the cross was suspended a garland of flowers; we were about to\nretire again immediately, from the fear of disturbing their melancholy\ndevotions, when the concierge, with a brutality indescribable, rushed\nforward, and removing the garlands, threw them among the shrubs at a\nconsiderable distance. The friend who accompanied me, after searching,\nrecovered one of the garlands, and with more gallantry perhaps than\npolicy, immediately replaced it, and reproaching the keeper with his\nunmanly conduct, vowed vengeance if he dared to interrupt the ladies,\nagain, when bowing to them we retired.\n\nAs we were about to quit the place some time after, we were arrested\nby two gendarmes, and it was not till after a detention of some\nhours, and a long discussion between the police officers who had\nbeen summoned to attend, and being threatened to be sent to the\nConciergerie prison, that we were allowed to depart.\n\nThe following words were engraved on a plain marble slab that covered\nthe remains of Marshal Ney.\n\n  CI GIT\n  LE MAR\u00c9CHAL NEY\n  DUC D'ECHLINGEN\n  PRINCE DE MOSCOWA\n  D\u00c9C\u00c9D\u00c9 le 7, Decembre, 1815.\n\nThe grave of the Marshal, as well as that of Lab\u00e9doy\u00e8re, when I again\nvisited the spot, had been stripped of every thing, and the railing\naround them removed so as to prevent any one from discovering the\nplace of their interment.\n\nThe monument of Madame Cottin, the author of Elizabeth and of\nMathilde, is, like her writings, simple and affecting!-Surrounded by a\ntrellis work in the form of an arbour, planted with rose trees, stands\na pillar of the whitest marble, highly polished, inclining forwards,\nand engraved with:\n\n  ICI REPOSE\n  Marie-Sophie Risteav\n  Veuve de J.M. Cottin\n  D\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9e le 25 Ao\u00fbt.\n  1815.\n\nNear this is the tomb of the esteemed and celebrated poet Delille, the\n\"Songster of the Gardens,\" as the French term him. The monument is\nenclosed in a small garden, planted with the choicest flowers and\nshrubs: it is of white marble, of large dimensions, and approached\nby an _all\u00e9e verte_. The door leading to the vault is of brass, with\nemblematical figures in relief: above the entrance is inscribed in\nletters of gold.\n\nJACQVES-DELILLE.\n\nThe linden tree, intermixed with various evergreens, form an\ninteresting and beautiful bouquet around it.\n\nBeyond this, to the right, are the tombs of Gr\u00e9try the composer,\nFourcroy the great chemist, Fontenelle, Boileau, Racine, and of\nMademoiselle Raucourt, the celebrated actress, to whom the bigotry\nof the clergy refused burial in consecrated ground in 1815! a\ncircumstance which gave rise to much clamour and dissatisfaction. It\nis surprising, that after such events as have been experienced in\nFrance, the folly of denying the right of consecrated ground to a\ncomedian should have been persevered in, _after the restoration_ of\nLouis XVIII!\n\nClose to the tomb of Mad'lle Raucourt, is one, which for its affecting\nsimplicity and modesty, struck me very forcibly: in a little garden of\nroses and lilies, and amidst some tufts of mignonette which appeared\nto have been newly watered, stood a plain marble column, with the\nwords as represented in the annexed sketch--an accacia shaded it from\nthe sun's rays. In 1814, when the Allies approached Paris, this\nheight, like the others commanding the capital, was fortified,\nand occupied by the students of the Polytechnical School,\nwho defended it with great gallantry. The walls were perforated with\nholes for the musketry: the marks are still visible where they have\nbeen since filled up. On the 30th of March, 1814, this position\nwas vigorously attacked, with great slaughter on both sides: the\nassailants and the assailed fell in heaps, and it was not until\nthe chief part of a Prussian corps, (that afterwards carried it by\nassault) had been annihilated, that the brave youths gave way.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe tomb of my early friend and brother officer, the brave and\nunfortunate Captain Wright, who was murdered in the Temple, is in\nthe cemetery of Vaugirard. I had searched for it in vain at P\u00e8re la\nChaise, where it was reported he had been buried. It has on it the\nfollowing inscription, written to his memory by his companion in arms,\nand in imprisonment, the gallant Sir Sidney Smith:\n\n  HERE LIES INHUMED\n  JOHN WESLEY WRIGHT,\n  BY BIRTH AN ENGLISHMAN,\n  CAPTAIN IN THE BRITISH NAVY\n\n  Distinguished both among his own Countrymen and Foreigners\n  For skill and courage;\n\n  To whom,\n  Of those things which lead to the summit of glory,\n  Nothing was wanting but opportunity:\n\n  His ancestors, whose virtues he inherited,\n  He honoured by his deeds.\n\n  Quick in apprehending his orders,\n  Active and bold in the execution of them;\n\n  In success modest,\n  In adverse circumstances firm,\n  In doubtful enterprises, wise and prudent.\n\n  Awhile successful in his career;\n  At length assailed by adverse winds, and on an hostile shore,\n  He was captured;\n\n  And being soon after brought to Paris,\n  Was confined in the prison called the Temple,\n  _Infamous for midnight murders_,\n  And placed in the most rigid custody:\n\n  But in bonds,\n  And suffering severities still more oppressive,\n  His fortitude of mind and fidelity to his country\n  Remained unshaken.\n\n  A short time after,\n  He was found in the morning with his throat cut.\n  And dead in his bed:\n\n  He died the 28th October, 1805, aged 36.\n  To be lamented by his Country,\n  Avenged by his God!\n\n\nTHE DONJON, OR CASTLE OF VINCENNES.\n\n\nThis ancient fortress is situate at the entrance of the forest of\nVincennes, (now reduced to a wood of small trees, the large timber\nhaving been cut down during the revolution) and surrounded by a deep\nditch of great width, about two miles from the Barri\u00e8re du Tr\u00f4ne.\nDuring many ages, it had been the casual residence of the sovereigns\nof France. Philip de Valois added considerably to its dimensions in\n1337. John continued the works, and during his captivity in England,\nCharles his son, then regent of the kingdom, finished it.\n\nDuring the reign of Charles VII. in 1422, Henry VI. of England died in\nthis castle. From this time Vincennes became a royal residence, until\nthe reign of Louis XIV. when that monarch fixed himself at Versailles,\nfrom which period it has never been used but as a prison[13].\n\n[Footnote 13: Monstrelet relates a curious anecdote, during the\nresidence at the Castle of Vincennes of Isabeau de Bavi\u00e8re, strongly\nillustrative of the barbarous manners of those times. \"Lewis de\nBourbon, who was handsome and well made, and had signalized himself\nupon various occasions, and amongst others at the battle of Agincourt,\ngoing one night, as was customary, to visit the Queen, Isabeau de\nBavi\u00e8re, at the Castle of Vincennes, met the King (Charles VI.); he\nsaluted him, without either stopping or alighting from his horse,\nbut continued galloping on. The King having recollected him, ordered\nTangui du Chatel, pr\u00e9vost of Paris, to pursue, and to confine him in\nprison. At night the _question_ was applied, and he was afterwards\ntied up in a sack and cast into the Seine, with this inscription upon\nthe sack, 'Let the King's justice take place.'\"]\n\nDulaure, a French writer, in speaking of the persons who were confined\nhere, observes, it would be difficult to enumerate the number of\nindividuals that have been shut up in this prison within these few\nyears. \"We will merely notice,\" he says, \"the celebrated Count\nMirabeau, who was confined from 1777 to 1780; here it was that he\ntranslated his Tibulle, and Joannes Secundus, and wrote his 'Lettres\noriginales' to his mistress, Madame Lemonnier, which abound with\npassages as affecting as the letters of H\u00e9lo\u00efse\".\n\nThis prison was thrown open during the reign of the unfortunate Louis\nXVI. by the Baron de Breteuil, Minister of the Department of Paris\nin 1784. In going over it, every one was penetrated with horror; and\nfeelings of the most melancholy interest were excited by reading the\nvarious inscriptions on the walls, indicative of the hopeless misery\nthat had been experienced within them! Many were expressive of piety\nand resignation at the approach of death!--others complaining of the\ncruel oppression which had immured them! On one wall was written, \"Il\nfaut mourir, mon frere; mon frere il faut mourir, quand il plaira \u00e0\nDieu\". On the door of another prison were, \"Beati qui persecutionem\npatiuntur propter justitiam, quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum\". On\nthe same spot were, \"Carcer Socratis, templum honoris\".\n\nThis Donjon remained unoccupied until 1791. At this period, the\nprisons of the capital being filled with criminals, Government ordered\nit to be prepared for the reception of that class of prisoners; but on\nthe massacres that followed, the mob either murdered or released them\nall, after a bloody contest, and it remained again without prisoners\nuntil the Imperial Government under Buonaparte. It was then garrisoned\nby a detachment of the Imperial Guard, and multitudes of victims were\ntransferred there whose fate remains, and probably ever will remain,\nunknown.\n\nIt was to this place that the Duke D'Enghien, who was arrested the\n15th March, 1804, at Ettenheim, in the Electorate of Baden, was\nconducted the 20th of the same month, at five in the evening, and\ncondemned to death the night following, by a military commission, at\nwhich Murat presided. He was accordingly shot on the 21st, at half\npast four in the evening, in the ditch of the castle which looks\ntowards the forest, on the north side, and his body thrown into a\ngrave, ready dug to receive it, where he fell. The details of this\ncruel and wanton act of barbarity are too well known to need any\nrepetition here.\n\nThis spot is now marked by a wooden cross, enclosed by an iron\nrailing. The remains of the Prince were dug out on the 20th March,\n1816, by order of Louis XVIII. and deposited with solemn funeral\nceremony in a coffin which is placed in the same apartment where the\ncouncil of war condemned him to suffer! since transformed info a\nchapel. Under a cenotaph, covered with a cloth of gold, is placed the\ncoffin, with a prodigious large stone lying on it, the same that was\nfound lying on his head, and which from its weight had crushed his\nskull!\n\nThe apartment is hung with black cloth, and remains continually\nlighted, with a guard placed over it. Mass is daily performed for the\nrepose of his soul, agreeable to the Catholic religion.\n\nOn the lid of the coffin is the following inscription:\n\n  Ici est Le Corps\n  De Tr\u00e8s-Haut, Tr\u00e8s-Puissant Prince\n  Louis-Antoine-Henri De Bourbon\n  Duc D'Enghien, Prince du Sang\n  Pair de France\n  Mort A Vincennes, Le 21 Mars 1804\n  A L'age de XXXI Ans VII mois XVIII Jours.\n\nA marble bust of the Prince, by Bosio, is placed at the entrance.\n\nDuring the periods of 1814 and 1815, when Paris was in possession\nof the Allies, Vincennes continued under the command of General\nDaumesnil, who declared that he held it for his country until the\nGovernment was settled, and would not open its gates to a foreign\narmy. It was not attacked either of the times.\n\nIt is approached by two gates, with drawbridges, and defended by\ncannon on all sides. The foss\u00e9 is of great depth, and dry, extending,\nI should suppose, nearly a quarter of a mile. It has nine towers, of\nprodigious height and solidity: the largest, at the south western\nangle, called the Donjon, is considerably more elevated than the\nothers. The principal entrance is fronting the forest, on the north\nside, in the form of a triumphal arch, with six pillars, ornamented\nin bas-reliefs, and was decorated with marble statues, which were\ndestroyed when it was seized by the mob.\n\nThe Donjon is surrounded by a separate ditch, within the other, of\nforty feet depth, and is approached by two draw-bridges; one for\ncarriages, the other for foot passengers; and the main tower is\nflanked by four other angular ones, each having a high turret. The\nwindows are treble barred within and without, so as to admit but a\nfaint glimmering light! Three gates of great solidity are to be passed\nat the entrance; that which communicates with the draw-bridge of the\ncastle is secured both within and without. After passing the three\ngates, there is a court, in the middle of which stands the Donjon.\nThree other immense gates guard its entrance!\n\nThe form of the Donjon is a square. The towers at the four angles are\ndivided into five floors, each having a separate stair-case, and\neach floor is vaulted, with an apartment in the centre, sustained\nby pillars, which are chimneys. At each of the four corners of the\napartment in the centre is a cell thirteen feet square. The towers are\nencompassed on the third story by a large gallery on the outside, and\non the top of each there is a small circular terrace. Such is the\nstrength and prodigious solidity of this building, that it is said to\nbe capable of resisting the heaviest cannon, and is bomb proof. The\nhand of time appears not to have made any impression on its outward\nsurface.\n\nThe first hall is called \"La chambre de la question:\" its name\nindicates sufficiently the horrid purposes to which it was\nappropriated! So late as the year 1790 were to be seen chairs formed\nof stone, where the unhappy victims were seated, with iron collars\nfixed to the wall by heavy chains, that confined them to the spot\nwhile undergoing the torture! In these prisons, deprived of air and\nlight, were beds of timber, on which they were allowed to repose\nduring the interval of their sufferings.\n\nThe upper floor, named \"La salle du conseil,\" from the Kings holding\ntheir council there, while it was a royal residence, is secured by a\ndoor of great solidity, and each prison at the angles had three doors\ncovered with iron plates, with double locks and treble bolts. The\ndoors were so contrived as to open crossways, each serving as a\nsecurity to the other. The first acted as a bar to the second, and\nthis to the third, so that it was necessary to close one before the\nother could be opened.--Such was the mode of confinement in this\nprison, the walls of which are sixteen feet thick, and the arches\nthirty feet high.\n\nThe other eight towers were also prisons. The one called \"La tour de\nla surintendance\" contains cells six feet square; the bed places are\nof stone. There is a square hole to descend into the vaults beneath,\nwhere, like a tomb, the miserable prisoner was immured for ever!!!\nOften, alas! for imaginary crimes, or for causes which make us shudder\nat their wantonness and barbarity, an unfortunate victim has been torn\nfrom the bosom of his family, to perish unheard of and unknown!\n\nThe French Government have, I understand, issued an order to prevent\nany one from entering this place from motives of curiosity; and let us\nhope that the humane and enlightened policy of the restored Monarch\nwill close its cells for ever!\n\nThe following beautiful lines, with which I close an account of the\nmost horribly interesting spot I ever visited, are from the pen of\nDelille:\n\n  \"..........................\n  Voyez g\u00e9mir en proie \u00e0 sa longue torture,\n  Ce mortel confin\u00e9 dans sa noire cl\u00f4ture.\n  Pour unique plaisir et pour seul passe-temps,\n  De sa lente journ\u00e9e il compte les instans,\n  Ou de son noir cachot mesure l'\u00e9tendue,\n  Ou m\u00e9dite en secret sa fuite inattendue;\n  Ou, de ceux qu'avant lui renferma la prison,\n  Lit, sur ces tristes murs, la complainte et le nom:\n  Et lui-m\u00eame y tra\u00e7ant sa douloureuse histoire,\n  A ceux qui le suivront en transmet la m\u00e9moire.\n  C'est peu d'\u00eatre encha\u00een\u00e9 dans ces tristes tombeaux,\n  Combien de souvenirs viennent aigrir ses maux!\n  H\u00e9las! tandis qu'aupr\u00e8s de leurs jeunes compagnes;\n  Dans les riches cit\u00e9s, dans les vastes campagnes;\n  Ses amis d'autrefois errent en libert\u00e9,\n  Lorsque l'heure propice \u00e0 la soci\u00e9t\u00e9,\n  Reconduit chaque soir la jeunesse fol\u00e2tre\n  Aux entretiens joyeux, \u00e0 la danse, au th\u00e9\u00e2tre,\n  Ou, d'un plaisir plus doux annon\u00e7ant le retour,\n  Du moment fortun\u00e9 vient avertir l'amour,\n  Il est seul; ... en un long et lugubre silence,\n  Pour lui le jour s'ach\u00eave, et le jour recommence;\n  Il n'entend point l'accent de la tendre amiti\u00e9,\n  Il ne voit point les pleurs de la douce piti\u00e9:\n  N'ayant de mouvement que pour tra\u00eener des ch\u00e2nes,\n  Un coeur que pour l'ennui, des sens que pour les peines,\n  Pour lui, plus de beaux jours, de ruisseau, de gazon;\n  Cette v\u00f4ute est son ciel, ces murs son horizon,\n  Son regard, \u00e9lev\u00e9 vers les flambeaux c\u00e9lestes,\n  Vient mourir dans la nuit de ses cachots funestes;\n  Rien n'\u00e9gaie \u00e0 ses yeux leur morne obscurit\u00e9;\n  Ou si, par des barreaux avares de clart\u00e9,\n  Un faible jour se glisse en ces antres fun\u00eabres,\n  Il redouble pour lui les horreurs des t\u00e9n\u00eabres,\n  Et, le coeur consum\u00e9 d'un regret sans espoir,\n  Il cherche la lumi\u00e8re et g\u00e9mit de la voir.\"\n\nDELILLE. CHATEAU DE SAINT GERMAIN.\n\nThis ancient pile of building is now a barrack for the King's Gardes\ndu Corps, containing two troops, one of Luxembourg, and the other of\nGrammont, which are relieved every three months.\n\nIt is supposed to have been built in the reign of Robert, but there\nappears to be no certainty as to the exact period. It is interesting\nto the English traveller, from having been the last refuge of James\nthe Second of England, and the residence, at various times, of very\ncelebrated and distinguished characters. It was taken, and pillaged,\nand partly burnt, during the reign of Philip VI, in 1346, by Edward\nthe Third, and again by the English in 1419, and rebuilt by Francis\nthe First. During the war of the League in 1574, Catherine de Medicis\nretired to this Castle, but from the predictions of an astrologer,\nthat she would die there, quitted it shortly after, and returned to\nthe Tuilleries, which Palace she had founded.[14] Henry the Fourth\noften frequented Saint Germain. The Ch\u00e2teau Neuf, and one of the\ntowers, called Le Pavilion de Gabrielle, which is still in good\npreservation, were erected by him, close to the Castle, for the\nresidence of his favourite, La belle Gabrielle:[15] and the superb\nterrace was begun in his reign. From this spot the view is very\ninteresting and extensive: nothing can surpass the admirable\nassemblage of hills, meadows, gardens, and vineyards, which charm the\neye, and which as they are viewed from its different points on a clear\nsummer's evening, appear at every turn, in new beauty, and endless\nvariety.\n\n[Footnote 14: According to Mezeray, this palace had its name from the\nspot whereon it is situated, which was called Les Tuilleries, because\ntiles (des tuiles) were made here. Catherine de Medicis built it 1564.\nIt consisted of nothing but the large square pavilion in the middle,\nthe two wings, and the two pavilions which terminate the wings. Henry\nIV. Louis XIII. and Louis XIV. afterwards extended, elevated, and\nembellished it. It is said to be neither so well proportioned, so\nbeautiful, or so regular, as it was at first. The Tuilleries is,\nnevertheless, a very splendid palace. An astrologer having predicted\nto Catherine de Medicis, that she would die near St. Germain, she\nimmediately flew, in a most superstitious manner, from all places\nand churches that bore this name; she no more resorted to St.\nGermain-en-Laye, and because her palace of the Tuilleries was situated\nin the parish of Saint Germain l'Auxerrois, she was at the expense of\nbuilding another, which was the Hotel de Soissons, near the church\nof St. Eustache. When it was known to be Laurence de Saint Germain,\nBishop of Nazareth, who had attended her upon her death-bed, people\ninfatuated with astrology averred that the prediction had been\naccomplished.]\n\n\n[Footnote 15: Henri IV se plaisait beaucoup \u00e0 Saint-Germain, et y vint\nsouvent, quand son coeur fut \u00e9pris des charmes de la belle Gabrielle.\nCe prince galant et lib\u00e9ral, qui d\u00e9j\u00e0 lui avait prouv\u00e9 son amour par\nle don d'une infinit\u00e9 de maisons de campagne, aux environs de Paris,\nvoulut encore lui donner une preuve de sa tendresse, en b\u00e2tissant pour\nelle, \u00e0 deux cents toises de l'ancien ch\u00e2teau, une nouvelle et belle\nhabitation, qu'on appela le Ch\u00e2teau Neuf. Elev\u00e9 sur les dessins\nde l'architecte Marchand, il \u00e9tait surtout remarquable par son\narchitecture simple, ses nombreuses devises, les chiffres amoureux\net les embl\u00e8mes all\u00e9goriques qui le d\u00e9coroient, et qui faisoient une\ning\u00e9nieuse allusion \u00e0 la passion du monarque pour sa m\u00e2itresse.\nL'une des ailes de ce ch\u00e2teau s'appelait m\u00eame le Pavillon de\nGabrielle.--_Hist. Topo. des Environs de Paris_.]\n\nThe City of Paris is seen in the distance. The fine aqueduct of Marly,\nthe mountain de Coeur volant, Mount Calvary,[16] and Malmaison to the\nright; in front the forest of V\u00e9sinet, and beyond it the vale of Saint\nDenis; on the left the hills which encompass the beautiful vale of\nMontmorency; the Seine winding at the foot, and extending its course\nuntil it loses itself in the distance--all within one sweep of the\neye!--Such is the enchanting prospect which presents itself.\n\nIt was at different times the residence of Louis XIII.[17] of Anne of\nAustria, Christiana of Sweden, and of Madame La Vali\u00e8re, when Madame\nde Montespan rivalled her in the affections of Louis XIV. After the\nformer had retired to the Convent of the Carmelites at Paris, it was\nassigned in 1689 to the unfortunate James the Second, whose bigotry\nhad driven him from the throne of England. Here, together with his\nQueen, and those of his court who fled with him to seek an asylum in\nFrance, and surrounded by those priests and monks, whose pernicious\ncouncils had led to his fall, the unhappy James remained until his\ndeath, the 16th Sept. 1701. The apartment in which he breathed his\nlast is still preserved; but the whole of the interior has been very\nmuch neglected. It served as a quarter for a body of Prussians in\n1815, and the following year was a barrack for the English troops\nquartered at St. Germain. A French poet of his time wrote these lines\ndescriptive of the life he led in his retirement.\n\n  \"C'est ici que Jacques second,\n  Sans Ministres et sans ma\u00eetresse,\n  Le matin allait \u00e0 la Messe,\n  Et le soir allait au sermon\".\n\n[Footnote 16: On the top of this height is the Pavilion de Lucienne,\nbuilt by Madame Dubarry, Mistress to Louis XV. afterwards the property\nof Madame La Princesse de Conti, now the residence of M. de Puy: at\nthe foot is the village of Lucienne, surrounded by numerous villas:\namong the most remarkable is the residence of General Comte Campon.]\n\n[Footnote 17: Lewis XIV. would not reside here, because the steeples\nof the Abbey of St. Denis, where he was to be interred, could be\nseen from the Ch\u00e2teau. The amount of the immense treasure which the\nconsequent erection of the Palace of Versailles cost was never known,\nthe King Mary Stewart, daughter of James, died here in April 1712, and\nhis Queen, in May 1718. These were the last persons of any consequence\nwho inhabited this palace, which in its exterior still preserves all\nits ancient appearance of grandeur. It is built of stone, with a\nfacing of red brick, the windows are of great height, and the whole is\nsurrounded by a deep ditch, forming a very striking contrast to the\nbuildings of the present age, having destroyed the bills with his\nown hand. In the neighbourhood of Versailles stands the celebrated\nMilitary School of St. Cyr, which was originally an establishment for\nthe gratuitous admission of two hundred and fifty young ladies\nof rank, who were to receive an education correspondent to their\nsituation in life. Madame de Maintenon is buried in the Chapel of the\nConvent.]\n\n\n\n\n\nFOREST OF SAINT GERMAIN.\n\nThis forest is enclosed by a wall of thirty miles in circumference,\naccording to M. Prudhomme. It is now preserved exclusively for the Duc\nde Berri, who is the Ranger.\n\nOf all the ancient forests with which Paris is surrounded, this is the\nmost extensive. It is stocked with prodigious quantities of game, with\ndeer, and wild boar. The pheasants and partridges are reared in an\nextensive _faisanderie_, in the centre of the forest, enclosed by a\nhigh wall, and such vigilance is exercised by the keepers, that no\nperson can possibly destroy the game. It is guarded by a captain and\ntwo lieutenants, who have under them a corps of gardes de chasse.\n\nThe royal chace is, at the commencement of the season, quite a state\nceremony, at which all the royal family and the court assemble to be\nspectators. The dress of the hunt is green and gold, with gold laced\ncocked hats and swords. The Duke invites his party, and gives them\npermission to wear the uniform, which is considered a high honour.\n\nNothing can be more delightful than the walks and rides through this\nforest; the roads are kept in the best possible state. At intervals\nare large open spaces called Etoiles, from whence branch off sometimes\nten and twelve roads with direction posts, each bearing a separate\nname, either from some memorable event, or remarkable person; as the\ncroix de Poissy, croix de la Pucelle, croix de Montchevreuil, croix de\nBerri, and croix de Noailles, &c. &c.\n\nA story is related of a lamentable occurrence which took place the 7th\nJune 1812, at the Etoile des Marres, and a similar one happened in\nAugust this year, near the same spot.\n\nThe first of these events was occasioned by the parents of a young\nlady having refused their consent to her being married to her lover,\nwhose want of fortune was the chief obstacle. The lovers, in despair,\ncame to the fatal resolution of putting a period to their lives, and\nthis forest was fixed upon as the spot for the dreadful deed! Having\npartaken of a repast which they had brought with them, and sworn\nto love each other (if it were permitted them) after death, they\ndischarged, at the same moment, their pistols at themselves. The\nunhappy girl fell dead, but the hand of her lover having missed its\naim, he was only wounded. Having no other means left of accomplishing\nhis dreadful purpose, he took the handkerchief from her bosom and\nsuspended himself by it to a tree. In this state they were discovered,\nand their bodies deposited in the same grave! The other circumstance\nwas of the same romantic and melancholy nature.[18] This forest\nsupplies Paris with great quantities of wood. In 1814, and in 1815,\nthe palisades that were made to surround Paris for its defence against\nthe Allied armies, were cut in this wood, and the large timber has\nconsequently been greatly thinned.\n\n[Footnote 18: There never was known in this country so many fatal\ninstances of suicide as at the present period; few days pass over\nwithout some persons throwing themselves out of their windows, or into\nthe river Seine; and among the disappointed partizans of the late\nruler, it has been usual to hurl themselves from the top of the column\nin the Place Vend\u00f4me, which has been shut up in consequence by an\norder from Government.\n\nAmong the instances of deliberate self-destruction, the following is a\nremarkable fact, inasmuch as it serves to prove the pernicious effects\nof the writings of Voltaire and Rousseau in the minds of youth, when\nat an age incapable of discriminating between fanaticism and real\npiety!\n\nThe person in question was a youth not turned sixteen, who destroyed\nhimself last summer, while at college, and who left the following\npaper as his last will. The lady who gave it me copied it from the\noriginal.\n\n  \"Testament de Villemain.\n\n  \"Samedi. July 6th, 1816.\n\n  \"Je donne mon corps aux P\u00e9dants: je l\u00e8gue mon \u00e2me aux manes de\n  Voltaire et de J.J. Rousseau, qui m'ont appris \u00e0 m\u00e9priser toutes les\n  vaines superstitions de ce monde, et tous les vains pr\u00e9jug\u00e9s qu'a\n  enfant\u00e9s la grossi\u00e8ret\u00e9 des hommes, et surtout les subtiles noirceurs\n  des fourbes de Pr\u00eatres.\n\n  \"J'ai toujours reconnu un Etre supr\u00eame, et ma religion a toujours \u00e9t\u00e9\n  la religion naturelle.\n\n  \"Quant \u00e0 mes biens terrestres, je donne: (Here he mentions various\n  articles to his favorite school-fellows).\n\n  \"A Mond\u00e9sir, mon dernier soupir.\n\n  \"J'ai toujours connu, je l'ai dit plus haut, reconnu un Etre supr\u00eame,\n  j'ai toujours pens\u00e9 que la seul religion digne de lui, etait la vertu\n  et la prob\u00eet\u00e9!\n\n  \"J'ose dire que je m'en suis rarement \u00e9cart\u00e9 malgr\u00e9 la faiblesse, et\n  la fragilit\u00e9 humaine.\n\n  \"Je parois devant l'Etre supr\u00eame en disant avec Voltaire: 'Un Bonze,\n  honn\u00eate homme, un Dervis, charitable, trouveront plut\u00f4t gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 ses\n  yeux, qu'un Pontife ambitieux.'\"\n\n  Then follows a Latin quotation, \"All things are due to death, and\n  without delay, sooner or later, hasten to the same goal: Hither we all\n  tend: This is our last asylum\".\n\n  \"De tout les P\u00e9dants qui m'ont le plus tourment\u00e9 je compte surtout\n  Poir, son Jeannes et Veissier, qui sont la cause du vol que je fais \u00e0\n  la nature en tranchant moi m\u00eame le fil de mes jours; je leur pardonne,\n  l'\u00e9quit\u00e9 le fait aussi: Je n'ai cess\u00e9 de r\u00e9p\u00e9ter avec Rousseau avant\n  de mourir. 'Tu veux cesser de vivre, sais-tu si tu as commenc\u00e9.'\n\n  \"Adieu!!! Mortels et foiblesses! VILLEMAIN\".]\n\nHere conclude my notes, and if my reader has condescended to accompany\nme through my little Tour without feeling fatigue or displeasure\nat his \"Compagnon de Voyage,\" my aim and ambition as an author are\nsatisfied--so wishing that all the journeys he may ever take, may\nprove as delightful to him as this has been to me, I sincerely thank\nhim for his attention, and kindly bid him Farewell!\n\n\nFINIS.","title":"A Visit to the Monastery of La Trappe in 1817: With Notes Taken During a Tour Through Le Perche, Normandy, Bretagne, Poitou, Anjou, Le Bocage, Touraine, Orleanois, and the Environs of Paris.; Illustrated with Numerous Coloured Engravings, from Drawings Made on the Spot","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":31476}