[Illustration: VIEW of the MONASTERY of LA TRAPPE] 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. BY W. D. FELLOWES, ESQ. ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS COLOURED ENGRAVINGS, FROM DRAWINGS MADE ON THE SPOT. LIST OF THE PLATES. View of the Monastery of La Trappe Ruins of the Ancient Church of ditto Ruins of the Gateway of the ancient Chartreuse Les Noyades (_vignette_) Grotto of Héloïse at Clisson Tomb of Abélard and Héloïse Ruins of Abélard's House Granite Rock in the Garenne Le Connétable de Clisson (_outline_) Ruins of Clisson Tour des Pélerins Moulin aux chêvres Tour d'Oudon on the River Loire View of St. Florent Tomb (_etching_) PREFACE. In justice to the public and to myself, I must disavow for thefollowing pages any higher literary pretension than what is conveyedby the simple title of "Notes, " under which I have ventured to givethem to the world. I had no other aim in writing but to occupy asrationally as I could the hours of travel, and no other object inpublishing but to impart to others as plainly as I could a portion ofthe pleasure I myself experienced. It has somewhere been remarked tothis effect, that if every man of common understanding were to putdown the daily thoughts and occurrences of his life, candidly andunaffectedly as he experienced them, he must necessarily producesomething of interest to his fellow men, and make a book, which, though not enlivened by wit, dignified by profundity of reasoning, norvaluable by extent of research, yet no man perhaps should throw asidewith either weariness or disgust. Whether I shall prove fortunate enough not to excite these sensationsin such readers as may honour my book with a perusal, I fear toconjecture. But it was my good fortune, during a season of uncommonbeauty, to make a tour through some of the most interesting parts ofFrance, and to meet with persons who, from situation and talents, were highly calculated to give my journey every charm of society andinformation. The natural face of the country through which I passedwas peculiarly beautiful: I could scarcely move a step withoutsome novelty of picturesque enchantment, and had the most perfectopportunities of contemplating Nature in all her varied poetry, fromthe grand and terrible graces of savage sublimity, to the soft andplayful loveliness of cultivated luxuriance. There was scarcely atown or village where I arrived which romance or history, religion orpolitics, had not invested and adorned with every interest of mentalassociation. Under such impressions, and with such opportunities, itwas scarcely possible to resist recording something of what I saw andfelt; and if the publication of my hasty record be an error, itwill be deemed by my friends, I hope, a pardonable one. My bookcan scarcely demand the serious attention of the critic; nor couldcriticism well expect a better style from one whose profession isseldom supposed to allow much leisure to acquire nicety in the arts ofcomposition. I claim no other merit for my Notes than having followedthe advice (of Gray, I believe) that ten words put down at the momentupon the spot, are worth a whole cart load of recollections. I havenot sought to add to their attraction (if they should possess any) bythe embellishments of my invention, or the graces of my periods--thedecorative artifices of execution can never give value to falsehood, and truth needs them not. A simple landscape, simply described fromnature, has always a charm above the most high-finished compositionsof mere fancy; and, like a moderate painting from the same source, still imparts a feeling of reality. I hope, therefore, I shall beexcused for attempting some description, slight and unskilful as itmay be, of places and scenery where the human mind has exhibitedsome of its most curious and powerful features, and which awakenreflections of the deepest interest--I allude particularly to themonastery of _La Trappe_, and to the country of _La Vendée_. Theformer had dwelt among the earliest impressions of youth, withsomething like the wild and wonderful force of a romantic tale; and Iwas anxious to become an eye-witness of what had so long been one ofthe most powerful objects of my imagination. The gloomy and almostinaccessible situation chosen by this strange fraternity fortheir convent--their rigid separation from human intercourse--theinfringible taciturnity imposed upon themselves--and the terribleseverity of their penances, are certainly circumstances moreresembling the visionary indulgence of fantasy and fiction, thanactual realities to be met with among living men, and in the presentday. With regard to the department of _La Vendée_, whatever serves, trivialas it may be, to recall or illustrate the history of its wars and thecharacter of its inhabitants, must ever possess a charm for those whodelight to sympathize with the noble struggles of a gallant people, conscientiously devoting themselves to the cause of a fallen andpersecuted monarchy, and resisting the cruel and destructive ferocityof a licentious enemy, who had broken down the most sacred fences ofsociety, and trampled upon the dearest ties of human nature. In these Notes, slight as they are, I can truly promise the readerthat he will find nothing wilfully misrepresented, nor advancedwithout just authority; and if the rapid and cursory character of theobservations, allusions, and anecdotes, shall enable an hour to passagreeably that has no better employment, I am content, and gratifiedwith the attainment of all I ever hoped or designed by an unpretendingpublication, which I cheerfully dedicate to all who love to unbendtheir minds from a critical attitude, and can lounge goodnaturedlyover leaves written by a traveller as idle and careless as themselves, and who assures them that no one can think more humbly of hisproduction than himself. MARCH 1818. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Route from Paris to Mortagne. --Excursion to La Trappe. --State of theOrder since the restoration in 1814. --Its foundation and rules underthe Abbé de Rancé. CHAP. II. Ruins of the Convent of the Chartreux. --Forests of LePerche. --Mortagne. CHAP. III. From Mortagne to Rennes. --Soeurs de la Charité. --Alençon. --Laval. --Vitré, the celebrated residence of Mad. De Sévigné. CHAP. IV. Rennes. --Route from Rennes to Nantes. --City of Nantes. --Historicalanecdotes. CHAP. V. Country south of the Loire. --Le Bocage. --Clisson. --Historicalanecdotes. --The Garenne, and River Sèvres. CHAP. VI. General appearance and limits of Le Bocage. --Nature of the mode ofwarfare of the Vendeans. CHAP. VII. The River Loire, from Nantes to Angers. CHAP. VIII. Saumur to Tours. --Tours to Blois. --Orléans--and Orléans to Paris. CHAP. IX. Environs of Paris. --Père la Chaise. --Castle of Vincennes, and Châteauof Saint Germain. --The Forest, and Vicinity. --Conclusion. A VISIT TO THE MONASTERY OF LA TRAPPE CHAP. I. ROUTE FROM PARIS TO MORTAGNE. --EXCURSION TO LA TRAPPE. --STATE OF THEORDER SINCE THE RESTORATION IN 1814. --ITS FOUNDATION AND RULES UNDERTHE ABBE DE RANCE. I performed this journey during the months of June, July, August, andSeptember, a distance of near one thousand miles, and had the singulargood fortune to enjoy the finest weather possible. The perusal ofMadame de La Roche-Jaquelin's interesting work on the Vendean war, first gave me the idea of visiting the country called le Bocage, thetheatre of so many events, and sufferings of the brave royalists; and, as the province of le Perche, in which is situated the ancient conventof La Trappe, was in my route to Bretagne, I resolved to make anexcursion there, in order to satisfy myself of the truth of thoseausterities which I had read of in the Memoirs of the Count deComminge. The route from Paris to Mortagne, in le Perche, leads through Marly, Versailles, Saint Cyr, Pont Chartrain, La Queue, Houdon, Marrolles, Dreux, Nonancourt, Tillières, Verneuil, and Saint Maurice. The roadsare excellent, and the country beautiful. The first post out of Parisis Nanterre. Two leagues and a half from the barriere, the villageof Ruel, and the park of Malmaison, form a continuation of neatbuildings. At Nanterre, in the campaign of 1815, the Prussians, aftera severe engagement with the retreating troops of the French, had oneregiment of cavalry cut to pieces. At Ruel, the celebrated CardinalRichelieu had a palace, which at the Revolution became nationalproperty, and was purchased by Massena, Duc de Rivoli, PrinceD'Essling, lately deceased. The Duchess still resides there. It wastaken possession of by the allies in 1815, and, like Malmaison, plundered by the troops. There are extensive barracks for cavalry atthis place, at present occupied by the Swiss guards. A little farther, between Malmaison and Marly, is a beautiful château, formerly belonging to General Count Bertrand, who accompanied Napoleonto Saint Helena; it is now the property of M. Ouverard, the banker:nearly opposite is the residence of the celebrated Abbé Sieyès, wholives in great retirement. Whatever may have been the politicaltransgressions of Bertrand, there is something so noble in hisdevotion to the fallen fortunes of his master, that it is impossiblenot to respect his character. At Marly, the water-works and aqueduct for conveying the water fromthe river Seine to the palace and gardens of Versailles, are verycurious. The palace of Marly is destroyed; but the basins, which wereconstructed by order of Louis XIV. Are still to be seen, though inruins. Delille, the poet, in his description of the château andbeautiful grounds of Marly, says: C'est là que tout est grand, que l'art n'est point timide; Là tout est enchanté: c'est le Palais d'Armide; C'est le jardin d'Alcine, ou plutôt d'un Héros, Noble dans sa retraite et grand dans son repos. Qui cherche encore à vaincre, à dompter des obstacles, Et ne marche jamais qu'entouré de miracles. On quitting Paris, I had procured a letter of introduction from CountLa Cou to Madame de Bellou, at Mortagne, a charming old lady of anancient and noble family in that province, who had never quitted theseat of her ancestors, but remained quiet and respected during all thestorms of the revolution. She received me with kindness, and politelyintroduced me to the Sub-Prefect, Monsieur Lamorelie, who gave me aletter of introduction to the Père Don Augustin, Grand Prior of LaTrappe. The mayor of the commune of Solignié, who happened to be atthe inn, and learned from the _Aubergiste_, that a stranger intendedvisiting La Trappe, very civilly introduced himself to me, and gave meevery necessary direction how to proceed through the forest; at thesame time expressing his surprise that an Englishman should takethe trouble, and undergo the fatigue of penetrating through such acountry, an attempt which few of his own countrymen had ever venturedto make. It was singular enough that only one person in the town couldbe found to accompany me as a guide, or who knew any thing ofthe track through the forest, although the abbey is distant onlytwenty-five miles. I set out with the guide just at day-break, mounted on a small Normanhorse, and armed with pistols and a sword-cane, in case of meetingwith wolves, which the mayor of Solignié had cautioned me against, asabounding throughout the country. We travelled, after leaving themain road, at the distance of a league, through a country scarcelyappearing to be inhabited. Here and there a lone cot, a mere speck, met the eye amidst a landscape composed of nothing but barren wastesand thick forests, nearly impervious to the light. We had penetratedabout half a mile through one of the latter, my attention occupiedwith the romantic wildness of the scene, when we were alarmed by thehowling of a wolf. My guide crossed himself, and began cracking hiswhip with the noise and singular dexterity peculiar to the Frenchpostillions; and as we entered a part of the forest, impenetrable butfor traces known only to those who are accustomed to them, he related(by way of consolation, I suppose, ) several stories of the peasantryhaving been recently attacked, and some destroyed, by wolves; and oneinstance of a woman having had her infant torn from her arms, only ashort time since, in the neighbourhood. On quitting the forest the track was now and then diversified by theruins of a solitary cottage, or the mouldering remains of a crucifix, raised by pious hands to mark some event, or to guide the traveller;and after traversing a rocky plain, covered with heath and wild thyme, where some herds of sheep and goats were browsing, attended by theshepherd, we entered the Forest of Bellegarde. This forest spreadsover a large extent of country, and is so dark and intricate, thatthose best acquainted with it frequently lose their way. No vestige ofhuman footsteps or of the track of animals appeared; a mark, here andthere, on some of the trees, was the only direction! Pursuing our waythrough turnings and windings the most perplexing, we found ourselvesto be on the overhanging brow of a hill, the descent of which was soprecipitous, that we were under the necessity of dismounting; and bya winding path, hollowed out in its side, descended through a sortof labyrinth towards the valley, whose sides were clothed with loftywoods, rising one above the other. The valley itself is interspersedwith three lakes, connected with each other, and forming a sort ofmoat around the ground; in the centre of which appears the venerableabbey of La Trappe, with its dark gray towers, the deep tone of whosebell had previously announced to us, that we had nearly reached ourjourney's end. The situation of this monastery was well adapted to the founder'sviews, and to suggest the name it originally received of La Trappe, from the intricacy of the road which descends to it, and thedifficulty of access or egress, which exists even to this day, thoughthe woods have been very much thinned since the revolution. Perhapsthere never was any thing in the whole universe better calculated toinspire religious awe than the first view of this monastery. It wasimposing even to breathlessness. The total solitude--the undisturbedand chilling silence, which seem to have ever slept over the dark andancient woods--the still lakes, reflecting the deep solemnity of theobjects around them--all impress a powerful image of utter seclusionand hopeless separation from living man, and appear formed at once tocourt and gratify the sternest austerities of devotion--to nursethe fanaticism of diseased imaginations--to humour the wildestfancies--and promote the gloomiest schemes of penance and privation! In descending the steep and intricate path the traveller frequentlyloses sight of the abbey, until he has actually reached the bottom;then emerging from the wood, the following inscription is seen carvedon a wooden cross: C'est ici que la mort et que la vérité Elèvent leurs flambeaux terribles; C'est de cette demeure, au monde inaccessible, Que l'on passe à l'éternité. A venerable grove of oak trees, which formerly surrounded themonastery, was cut down in the revolution. In the gateway of the outercourt is a statue of Saint Bernard, which has been mutilated by therepublicans: he is holding in one hand a church, and in the other aspade--the emblems of devotion and labour. This gateway leads into acourt, which opens into a second enclosure, and around that are thegranaries, stables, bakehouse, and other offices necessary to theabbey, which have all been happily preserved. Owing to the fatigue of the journey, the heat of the weather, andhaving frequently been obliged to retrace our steps, from losing ourway in the woods, it was late before we arrived at the abbey. To thewest, under the glow of the setting sun, the forests were still tingedwith the warmest yet softest colours that faded fast away; and as wedescended towards the Convent, quickening our pace to reach it beforethe last gleams of evening departed, there was a silence around us, which at such a moment, and in such a spot, sunk sorrowfully upon theheart! Just as I reached the gate the bell tolled in so solemn andmelancholy a tone that it vibrated through my whole frame, and calledstrongly to mind the beautiful lines in "Parisina": The Convent bells are ringing, But mournfully and slow; In the gray square turret swinging, With a deep sound, to and fro, Heavily to the heart they go! On entering the gate, a lay-brother received me on his knees; and ina low and whispering voice informed me they were at vespers. Thestillness and gloom of the building--the last rays of the sun scarcelypenetrating through its windows--the deep tones of the monks chantingthe responses, which occasionally broke the silence, filled me withreverential emotions which I felt unwilling to disturb: it wasnecessary however to present my letter of introduction, and FrèreCharle, the secrétaire, soon after came out, and received me withgreat civility. He appeared a young man about five-and-twenty, with ahandsome and prepossessing countenance. He informed me that the PèreAbbé was then absent, visiting a convent of Female Trappistes, afew leagues distant, but that he should be happy to show me everyattention; and requested that in going over the Convent, I wouldneither speak nor ask him any questions in those places where I sawhim kneel, or in the presence of any of the Monks. I followed him tothe chapel, where, as soon as the service was over, the bell rungto summon them to supper. Ranged in double rows, with their headsenveloped in a large cowl, and bent down to the earth, they chantedthe grace, and then seated themselves. During the repast one of them, standing, read passages from scripture, reminding them of death, andof the shortness of human existence; another went round the wholecommunity, and on his knees kissed their feet in succession, throwinghimself prostrate on the floor at intervals before the image of ourSaviour; a third remained on his knees the whole time, and in thatattitude took his repast. These penitents had committed some fault, or neglected their religious duties, of which, according to theregulations, they had accused themselves, and were in consequencedoomed to the above modes of penance. The refectory was furnished with long wooden tables and benches; eachperson was provided with a trencher, a jug of water, and a cup, havingon it the name of the brother to whom it is appropriated, as FrèrePaul, Frère François, &c. Which name they assume on taking the vow. Their supper consisted of bread soaked in water, a little salt, andtwo raw carrots, placed by each; water alone is their beverage. Thedinner is varied with a little cabbage or other vegetables: they veryrarely have cheese, and never meat, fish, or eggs. The bread is of thecoarsest kind possible. Their bed is a small truckle, boarded, with a single covering, generally a blanket, no mattress nor pillow; and, as in the formertime, no fire is allowed but one in the great hall, which they neverapproach. Within these three years a small cabaret has been built near theConvent for the accommodation of those who may occasionally visit it, the buildings that remain being but barely sufficient for their ownmembers, which have been rapidly increasing since its restoration. Inthis cabaret I took up my abode for the night, in preference to theaccommodation very kindly offered me by Frère Charle, and retired torest, wearied with the day's excursion, and fully satisfied, that allI had heard, all I had imagined of La Trappe, was infinitely short ofthe reality, and that no adequate description could be given of itsawful and dreary solitude; Monsieur Elzéar de Sabran, in a poem called Le Repentir, latelypublished, describing this Monastery, says very justly; Témoins d'une commune et secrète souffrance, Ces frères de douleur, martyrs de l'espérance, D'une lente torture épuisant les degrés, Constamment réunis, constamment séparés, L'un à l'autre étrangers, à côté l'un de l'autre, Joignent tout ce malheur encore à tout le nôtre, Jamais, dans ses pareils cherchant un tendre appui, Un coeur ne s'ouvre aux coeurs qui souffrent comme lui. The following morning the matin bell summoned me to the Convent, and Frère Charle attended me to the burial ground; here have beendeposited the remains of two of the brothers, deceased since therestoration of their order in 1814. Another grave was ready prepared;as soon as an interment takes place, one being always opened for thenext that may die. The two graves were marked with simple woodencrosses, bearing the following inscriptions: F. Nicolas. Frère DONNÉ Décédé. Le 24 Février 1816. * * * * * On the other: F. AUGUSTINUS. NOVITIUS die 26 mensis novembris ANNO. 1816 DECESSIT. REQUIESCAT IN PACE AMEN. * * * * * In the centre of the cemetery is the grave of M. De Rancé. Hismonument, with his figure carved at full length in a recumbentposture, was removed when the destruction of the old church tookplace; it is now a complete ruin, and a few stones alone mark the spotof its ancient founder's grave, which is kept free from weeds withpious reverence and care. The revolution, which like a torrent sweptall before it, did not even spare the dead. [Illustration: RUINS of the ANCIENT CHURCH of LA TRAPPE. ] While I was contemplating the ruins around me, and watching themotions of a venerable figure in silent prayer at one of the angles, the bell tolled, when both Frère Charle and the Monk dropped instantlyon their knees. How forcibly were the following lines of Pope recalledto my mind! Lo, the struck deer, in some sequester'd part, Lies down to die, (the arrow in his heart;) There, hid in shades, and wasting day by day, Inly he bleeds, and pants his soul away. The number of Monks who have taken the vow are not in proportion tothe others, who are lay brothers, and _Frères Donnés_; in all thereare about one hundred, besides novices, who are principally composedof boys, and who do not wear the same habit. The Trappistes, whocompose the first order, are clothed in dark brown, with brown mantleand hood; the others are in white, with brown mantle and hood. I occasionally caught a glimpse of their faces, but it was onlymomentarily; and I can easily believe, with their perpetual silence, that two people well known to each other, might inhabit the same spot, without ever being aware of it, so completely are their faces hiddenby their large cowl. The Trappistes, or first order, are distinguishedby the appellation of _Frères Convers_, the others by that of_Religieux de Coeur_. The hardships undergone by these monks appear almost insupportableto human nature, and notwithstanding the immense number of deathsoccasioned by their rigorous austerities, the Cénobites of La Trappe, at the suppression of their order, amounted to one hundred monks, sixty-nine lay brothers, and fifty-six _Frères Donnés_. The inmatesare classed under these three heads; but the lay brothers, who takethe same vows, and follow the same rules, are principally employed asservants, and in transacting the temporal concerns of the abbey. The_Frères Donnés_ are brothers given for a time; these last are notproperly belonging to the order, they are rather, religious persons, whose business or connexions prevent their joining the orderabsolutely, but, who wishing to renew serious impressions, or toretire from the world for a given period, come here and conformstrictly to the regulations while they remain, without wishing to jointhe order for life. Many persons on their first conversion, or aftersome peculiar dispensations of Providence, retire here for a season. In the refectory I observed a board hung up, with "_Table pourl'Office Divin_, " written over it, and under it the regulations ororder of service to be performed for that week, which are occasionallyvaried, but never diminished in their rigour. Frère Charle said, that the whole were strictly observed, and were frequently much moresevere; for the Père Abbé had instituted more austere regulationsthan formerly, with the only one exception, of the sick being allowedmedicines; and, in cases of great debility, a small quantity of meat. The Table "_pour l'Office Divin_, " was as follows. Dimanche. . . . 12 Leçons et Communion. Lundi. . . . . . . 3 Leçons. Mardi. . . . . . . 12 Leçons--à jeun--Travail. Mercredi. . . . 12 Leçons. Jeudi. . . . . . . 3 Leçons. Vendredi. . . . 12 Leçons--à jeun--Travail. Samedi. . . . . . 12 Leçons--à jeun--Travail. Their mode of life and regulations exist nearly in the same stateas established by the founder; in reciting them, such horribleperversions of human nature and reason make it almost difficult tobelieve the existence of so severe an order, and lead us to wonderat the artificial miseries, which the ingenuity of pious but morbidenthusiasm can inflict upon itself. The abstinence practised at LaTrappe allows not the use of meat, fish, eggs, or butter; and a verylimited quantity of bread and vegetables. They only eat twice aday; which meals consist of a slender repast at about eleven in themorning, and two ounces of bread and two raw carrots in the evening:both together do not at any time exceed twelve ounces. The same spiritof mortification is observable in their cells, which are very small, and have no other furniture than a bed of boards, a human skull, and afew religious books. Silence is at all times rigidly maintained; conversation is neverpermitted: should two of them even be seen standing near each other, though pursuing their daily labour, and preserving the strictestsilence, it is considered as a violation of their vow, and highlycriminal; each member is therefore as completely insulated as if healone existed in the Monastery. None but the Père Abbé knows the name, age, rank, or even the native country of any member of the community:every one, at his first entrance, assumes another name, as I beforeobserved, and with his former appellation, each is supposed to abjure, not only the world, but every recollection and memorial of himself andconnexions: no word ever escapes from his lips by which the others canpossibly guess who he is, or where he comes from; and persons of thesame name, family, and neighbourhood, have often lived together in theConvent for years, unknown to each other, without having suspectedtheir proximity. The abstraction of mind practised at La Trappe, and the prevention ofall external communication with the world is such, that few but thesuperior know any thing of what is passing in it. It has been related, that so little information of the affairs of mankind did these peoplereceive, that the death of Louis XIV. Was not known there for years, except by the Father Abbé; and such was their state of seclusion, thata Nobleman having taken a journey of five hundred miles, purposely tosee the Monastery, could scarcely find in the neighbouring villagesone person who knew where it was situated. Indeed, at the present day, it is quite astonishing how little is known of this place, and howvery few, even among those in its immediate vicinity, have evervisited it. [1] On the great festivals they rise at midnight; otherwise they are notcalled until three quarters past one: at two they assemble in theChapel, where they perform different services, public and private, until seven in the morning, according to the regulations of the week, as exemplified in the "_Table pour l'Office Divin_". At this hour theygo out to labour in the open air. Their work is of the most fatiguingkind, is never intermitted, winter or summer, and admits of norelaxation from the state of the weather. [Footnote 1: Among the most frequent visitors of La Trappe, wasthe unfortunate James the Second. His first visit was on the 20thNovember, 1690, where he was received by M. De Rancé, whose account ofit is very interesting. ] When their labour is over, they go into Chapel for a short time, untileleven o'clock, the hour of repast; at a quarter after eleven theyread till noon; and afterwards lie down to rest for an hour: they arethen summoned into the garden, where they again work until three;then read again for three quarters of an hour, and retire for anotherquarter to their private meditations, by way of preparation forvespers, which begin at four, and end at six; at seven they againenter the Chapel, and at eight they leave it, and retire to rest. At the hour of their first repast, I again attended Frère Charle tothe eating-room, where nearly the same forms were observed as at theirevening-meal; a small basin of boiled cabbage, two raw carrots, anda small piece of black bread, with a jug of water, constituted theirsolitary meal. A Monk, during the whole time, read sentences fromScripture; and a small hand-bell filled up the intervals of hissilence, and proclaimed a cessation from eating, or movement ofany sort. Over the door of the Refectory I observed the followinginscription in Latin:--"Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a stalled ox, and hatred therewith". Frère Charle invited me to partake of the frugal fare of his order. Hesaid, "You will forgive my laying before you a vegetable repast; itis all that I have in my power to offer you, but you will confer apleasure by accepting it". It was impossible to refuse, for I felt Ishould appear ungrateful after the attentions that had been shown me, if I had. Frère Charle conducted me into an apartment, in which I wasgratified to observe a well executed portrait of the Abbé de Rancé, which, at the destruction of the Monastery, had been preserved by thesurgeon of the ancient fraternity, who continued to reside there untilthe period of his death, four or five years since. This person wasgreatly respected by all the people round the country, and resortedto by all who sought relief either from sickness or misery!--Had theother brothers followed his example of remaining, in all probabilitytheir Convent might have been spared, for the accumulation of wealthcould not be laid to their charge; and as their monastic vows obligedthem to remain within the Monastery, they were most unlikely to incurthe suspicion of any political intrigues. --How indeed could men, whosewhole existence was passed in solitude and penance, and who neverconversed even among themselves, have been dangerous to thoseturbulent spirits who had overturned the government and all thereligious institutions of their country! In the portrait, the Abbé is dressed in the habit of the order, awhite gown and hood, and sitting with a book before him, in which heappears to be writing; on the same table, before him, are a crucifixand a skull. The following inscription is painted in one corner by theartist: "ARM'D. LE BOUTTHILLIER DE RANCE. S'R SCAUANT. Et célèbre Abbé Réformateur De La Trappe. Mort en 1700. à près de 77 ans, et de 40 ans de la plus austère pénitence". The Monastery of La Trappe is one of the most ancient Abbeys of theorder of Benedictins: it was established under the pontificate ofInnocent the Second, during the reign of Louis VII. In the year 1140, by Rotrou, the second Count of Perche, and is said to have been builtto accomplish a vow, made in the peril of shipwreck. In commemorationof this circumstance, the roof was made in the shape of the bottom ofa ship inverted. It was founded under the auspices of Saint Bernard, the first Abbot of Clairvaux, the celebrated preacher in favour ofthe Crusades. Many ages, however, had elapsed, since its firstinstitution, when the Father Abbot de Rancé, the celebrated reformerof his time, determined to become a member, whose singular history andconversion was the subject of a poem by Monsieur Barthe. The Abbé de Rancé became a Monk of the Benedictin order of La Trappe, in 1660, and his conversion was attributed to a lady whom he tenderlyloved. They had been separated for some time by her parents; shehaving written to him to remove her for the purpose of becoming unitedin marriage, he set off, but, during his journey, she was seized witha fever and died. Totally ignorant of the circumstance, he approachedthe house under cover of the night, and got into her apartment throughthe window. The first object he beheld was the coffin which containedthe body of his beloved mistress! It had been made of lead, but beingfound to be too short, they had, with unheard of brutality; severedher head from her body! Horror-struck with the shocking spectacle, he, from that hour, renounced all connexion with the world, and imposedupon himself the most rigid austerities, which he continued until hisdeath, forty years after. When M. De Rancé undertook the superintendance of the Monastery, itexhibited a melancholy picture, of the greatest declension, and itis curious to peruse the steps by which he effected so wonderful achange;[2] and how men could ever feel it either an inclination or aduty to enter upon a mode of life so different from the common ways ofthinking or feeling. [Footnote 2: Règlements de L'Abbaye, La Maison-Dieu Notre Dame de LaTrappe, par Dom. Armand de Rancé. ] The Monks of La Trappe were not only immersed in luxury and sloth, butwere abandoned to the most scandalous excesses; most of them lived byrobbery, and several had committed assassinations on the travellerswho had occasion to traverse the woods. The neighbourhood shrunk withterror from the approach of men who never went abroad unarmed, andwhose excursions were marked with bloodshed and violence. The Bandittiof La Trappe was the appellation by which they were most generallydistinguished. Such were the men amongst whom M. De Rancé resolved tofix his abode; all his friends endeavouring to dissuade him from anundertaking, they deemed alike hopeless and dangerous. "Unarmed, and unassisted, " [3] says his historian, "but in the panoplyof God, and by his Spirit, he went alone amidst this company ofruffians, every one of whom was bent on his destruction. Withundaunted boldness, he began by proposing the strictest reform, andnot counting his life dear to him, he described the full intent of hispurpose, and left them no choice but obedience or Expulsion". [Footnote 3: The work from which I have taken this, is a translationby Mrs. Schimmelpenninck of Dom. Claude Lancelot's Narrative, published in 1667. The present regulations not differing from theformer, I have extracted some of the most important. ] "Many were the dangers M. De Rancé underwent; plans were laid, atvarious times, to poison him, to waylay and assassinate him, and evenonce one of his monks shot at him; but the pistol, which was appliedclose to his head, flashed in the pan, and missed fire. By the goodprovidence of God all these plans were frustrated, and M. De Rancénot only brought his reform to bear, but several of his most violentpersecutors became his most stedfast adherents; many were, after ashort time, won over by his piety--the rest left the Monastery. He especially, who had shot at M. De Rancé, became eminentlydistinguished for his piety and learning, and was afterwards Sub-Priorof La Trappe". M. De Rancé lived forty years at the head of this singular society, and the same ardor and piety continued to distinguish him to the last. The excess of self-denial and discipline, exercised by this order, which might readily be doubted, became more known, especially to thiscountry, at the time of the French Revolution, when they shared thefate of dissolution with the various religious orders in France. Onthat occasion many of them sought an asylum in England, and weresettled in Dorsetshire, where they received the kind protection andbenevolent assistance of Mr. Weld, until the restoration enabled mostof them to return; and, surprising as it may appear in the presentage, notwithstanding the perpetual violence imposed by theirregulations on every human feeling, many are found anxious to enterthe establishment. When I was about to take my leave of Frère Charle, he said, "he hopedI was pleased with my humble fare: to such as it was I had been trulywelcome". Indeed he had treated me with the kindest, most unaffectedhospitality; he had laid the table, spread the dishes before me, stoodthe whole time by the side of my chair, and pressed me to eat: Howcould I not be thankful? I requested he would be seated, but heobserved that it was not proper for him to be so. His manners andgeneral deportment bespoke him a well-bred gentleman; and when Iventured to ask if I might make a memorandum of his name, he bowed hishead with meekness and resignation, and said, "I have now no other butthat which was bestowed on me when I took the vow, which severs mefrom the world for ever!" It was impossible not to be affected at themanner and tone of voice in which he uttered this. When I said thatperhaps he would like that I should leave an acknowledgment inwriting, expressive of the gratitude I felt at my kind and hospitablereception, he appeared much pleased, and instantly procured me paper. I left with him the following lines: "Convent of La Trappe, July 20, 1817. "I have this day visited the Convent of La Trappe, and in the absence of the Grand Prior, to whom I brought a letter of introduction from Monsieur Lamorelie, Sub-Prefect of Mortagne, I was received and have been entertained by Frère Charle Marie, his Secretary. "It is quite impossible that I can do justice to the kind, polite, and hospitable reception I have met with from him, by any expressions in writing. I can only observe, that it has made an impression on my mind never to be effaced! If these worthy and pious people have abandoned the world for the solitude and austerities of La Trappe, they have not forgotten, in their own self-denial, the benevolence and benignity due to strangers. May their self-devotion meet with its reward!" I now took my leave of the Convent with feelings which I will notpretend to describe, but which, together with the impressions Ireceived when I first entered it, and the whole circumstances of myvisit, I am conscious of retaining while "Memory holds her seat". Thefollowing lines, by P. Mandard, on quitting La Trappe, convey a veryfaithful and poetical picture of this extraordinary solitude: --Saint désert, séjour pur et paisible, Solitude profonde, au vice inaccessible; Impétueux torrens, et vous sombres forêts, Recevez mes adieux, comme aussi mes regrets! Toujours épris de vous, respectable retraite, Puissé-je, dans le cours d'une vie inquiète, Dans ce flux éternel de folie et d'erreur, Où flotte tristement notre malheureux coeur; Puissé-je, pour charmer mes ennuis et mes peines, Souvent fuir en esprit au bord de vos fontaines, Egarer ma pensée au milieu de vos bois, Par un doux souvenir rappeler mille fois De vos Saints habitans les touchantes images, Pénétrer, sur leurs pas, dans vos grottes sauvages, Me placer sur vos monts, et là, prennant l'essort, Aller chercher en Dieu ma joie, et mon trésor! CHAP. II. VAL-DIEU. --RUINS OF THE CONVENT OF THE CHARTREUSE. --FORESTS OF LEPERCHE, MORTAGNE. I quitted _La Trappe_ in the afternoon of the third day after myarrival there, for the Val-Dieu, which lies three leagues to the eastof Mortagne, taking the villages of Rinrolles and Prepotin in my way;the latter stands in the midst of a forest. By this road, so bad thatit scarcely deserves the name, a great distance is saved, but theromantic scenery of the approach to La Trappe is lost. The one we tookthrough the forest of Bellegarde more than doubles the distance;but the Abbey is seen as in the centre of a lake beneath, andthe continual beauty and wildness of the landscape render it farpreferable. Until the Revolution this was the only road, the otherhaving been made when the lands became national property, and weresold to the peasantry. After passing through the above villages, we came round by Tourouvre, a village on a height, which has a manufactory for glass. I didnot stop to view it, having several leagues to go through a woodedcountry. Soon after crossing the main road leading into Bretagne, we rode by the side of cultivated lands and orchards resembling thewestern parts of Devonshire, of which the narrow lanes and high hedgesreminded me very much, until we entered the forest leading to theVal-Dieu. Between eight and nine in the evening we came to the edgebounding that part of the Vale by which it is approached, in thedirection we had taken. It was very considerably out of our way, owingto the guide having mistaken his road and turned to the left insteadof the right. After resting a few minutes on the brow of the hill, webegan our descent by a steep and narrow pathway. When we were midwaydown the glen, the ruins of the ancient Chartreuse suddenly burst uponthe view! At this moment all the terrors of the declivity, and themomentary expectation of meeting some of the wolves with which theforest abounds, vanished from my mind before the feelings of delightwhich the enchanting scene called forth. The almost perpendicular viewof the Vale beneath, had an effect tremendous yet pleasing: on theleft was a lake, seeming to encircle an ancient convent embosomed ina wood; a thick forest covered the surrounding heights, and before mestood the remains of the ancient Priory, with its gateway and lodge soperfect as to create no suspicion of the destruction within. [Illustration: RUINS of the GATEWAY of the ANCIENT CHARTREUSE. ] This had been the hottest day and finest weather I had experiencedduring my journey. It was a sweet evening, and the rich tints of thedeparting sun-beams among the woods, with the solitary calmness of thescenery around, were circumstances that made a strong impression on myfeelings. Those who have never traversed the forests of this countrycan form but a very imperfect idea of what they are, or of thedeath-like awful stillness that reigns within them; for many milestogether they form a dense shade, which, like a dark awning, completely conceals the sun from the view: even on the brightest daythe sun's rays are only visible as from the bottom of a deep well! Theforests in Le Perche are reckoned the most extensive in France, andevery where abound with vast quantities of game. I was received on alighting from my horse by a M. Boderie, agood humoured hospitable man, who, with his family, are the onlyinhabitants of this lonesome spot. I found afterwards that he had seenbetter days: he informed me the Val-Dieu property was purchased at thedissolution of the Monastery by the present proprietor, who resided atParis, and allowed him, being his friend, to occupy that part of thebuilding which had not been destroyed. He made many apologies for thebadness of the accommodations and the homeliness of the fare he had tooffer me, which I considered as unnecessary, as what he possessed wastendered with unaffected cheerfulness. The Prussians in 1815 occupied this country, and notwithstanding M. Boderie was absent at that time serving in the body guard of LouisXVIII, whom he had accompanied in his retreat to Ghent, they plunderedhim of every article, not even leaving his wife a change of linen. The numerous accounts I have heard from people of respectability andloyalty, of the treatment experienced from the Prussians, excites thegreatest regret that they were not able to distinguish the innocentfrom the guilty. Many families have been ruined, or greatly distressedin their circumstances who were devoted to the cause of theirSovereign. Such are the inevitable consequences of war! The Val-Dieu extends upwards of three miles in length, surrounded byalmost impenetrable woods, except where paths have been cut. It hasthree lakes, one communicating with the other, containing greatquantities of fish. The Monastery, it is evident from the remains ofits ruins, and from the boundary wall, still entire, must have been ofprodigious extent. M. Boderie informed me, that the plan, of whichhe had seen an engraving, showed it to have been one of the mostconsiderable in the kingdom: some idea may be formed of its formercelebrity and extent by the remains of six hundred fire-places beingstill traceable. A colonnade surrounded the whole, forming an oblongsquare, in the centre of which was a jet d'eau, with several smallerones, the basins of which are still to be seen; the space withinformed a garden, with delicious walks, resembling those in the PalaisRoyal. The gate-way remains perfect, excepting only that the images over theside doors have been mutilated. The one in the centre (over the greatentrance) is still in excellent preservation, and appears to be finelyexecuted: it is the figure of the Virgin Mary in gray marble, thesize of life, seated, with the infant Jesus in her arms. On a scrollbeneath are these letters:-- ECCE MATER TVA. 1760. Several old chesnut trees and elms still remain, which once formeda fine avenue in front of the building, from whence the prospect isstrikingly beautiful. The eye passes over rocks, rugged, broken, andabrupt towards their summits, crowned and darkened with wood; and thenarrow road winding between the trees, until it loses itself in theforest, forms a feature very gratifying to the traveller. The solitudeof the place, as I viewed it at the close of day, occasioned mingledsensations of pleasure and pain. It was impossible to resist theimposing power of a situation, where every natural object was deeplytinged with the poetical character, and every remnant of architectureassociated with the romance of religious feeling. I recalled and dweltupon various passages of the poets inspired by similar scenes, andthought of the holy and enthusiastic minds which had here devotedthemselves to the sublimest duties and severest sacrifices of thealtar; and felt, that had I lived in those days, I, perhaps, couldhave become an inmate of walls which seem to have been erectedto exclude the evils of life, and to nurture only the enchantingabstractions of unpolluted virtue and happiness: but the presentday has brought with it a general philosophy and knowledge of humannature, which lessen the delight of contemplating the calm repose ofsuch a seclusion, and have taught that these retreats from the worldwere not always retreats from vice; that the sacrifices of monkishprivacy were not always those of selfish feelings; and that theausterities once practised here, as now at La Trappe, might perhapsarise more frequently from disappointed pride and ambition, thanfrom the pure feelings of pious resignation. In the overthrow of themonarchy and that of the priesthood, this venerable pile became theobject of popular vengeance; and had the Revolution done no more thaneffected the dissolution of the different orders of monks and nuns, every reflecting mind must have been pleased: the removal of thoseabuses, like the division of landed property into smaller portions, (whereby the country in general became more cultivated andproductive, ) was serviceable to France; and, if any circumstance canrestore permanent tranquillity, it will be the interest which thedifferent landholders have in the soil and the representative system, which will serve to check the ambition of its future governors. Already the good effects of these are to be perceived; and theexcessive abuses, insolence, and profligacy, of ancient ministerialoppression, which paved the way for the downfall of the monarchy, and, like a pestilence, destroyed that which was good with that which wasevil, will be prevented in future. It is, nevertheless, melancholy to observe the traces of devastationvisible in all directions: the people themselves appear not to regardit, but this may arise partly from the long and habitual feelingsgenerated by the scenes to which the Revolution daily gave rise, andpartly from the constitutional cheerfulness of the natives, who seldomview objects through the same dark medium that ours are supposed todo, and who, though they are not celebrated for patience, are of allmankind the least liable to despondency. When I spoke to M. Boderie ofmy regret at the destruction of an ancient structure like the one inquestion, his answer was, immediately, "oui c'est bien malheureux;mais enfin que voulez-vous?" He was "desolé" or had "le coeur trèssensible à tout cela;" but finished by "il faut se consoler". Withthis sort of philosophy they are always ready to view the past, andaccept of consolation, and in amusement, seek to bear or dissipatethe calamities inseparable from such a state of events, without evenappearing to repine. None of them will ever enter into conversation onthe subject if it can be avoided. The following day, having taken leave of my hospitable host, whorefused any compensation, I returned to Mortagne by another route, through the Forest of Val-Dieu, more dark and difficult to penetratethan the other; but the guide was better acquainted with it, and tookthe road by Saint Maure and Saint Eloi, through a fine country, highlycultivated, and abounding in beautiful scenery and distant landscapes. It was late at night before I reached Mortagne, greatly fatigued fromthe excessive heat of the weather. I dined the following day with Madame de Bellou, whose kind attentionand elegant hospitality, during the time I remained at Mortagne, Imust ever remember with sentiments of sincere gratitude. This lady hadinvited Monsieur Lamorelie, the Sub-Prefect, one of the most elegantmen I had met with in France, with several other gentlemen and ladies, to meet me. Among the party were Madame de Fontenay, Monsieur andMademoiselle Claire de Vanssay--very agreeable people: the latterpossessed, without great beauty, all the charms and vivacity of hercountrywomen. In the evening we went to an assembly, where I had anopportunity of seeing, and being presented to, all the respectablefamilies that yet remained in town; for at this season many were attheir country-seats. The ease, elegance, and good manners of thecompany composing this society, I never saw excelled in any country. It is but common justice to observe, that in Mortagne, which is theresidence of all the best families in the province, there is to befound all the characteristic good breeding for which the French wereso long, and so deservedly celebrated. The town of Mortagne stands on the declivity of a hill, in theprovince of Le Perche, bordering on Normandy. The high road toBretagne passes through it. It has only one church remaining outof seven, six having been destroyed at the Revolution. It has somemanufactories for serges and coarse cloths, and contains between fiveand six thousand inhabitants, in the department of L'Orne. From itselevated position and chalky soil, the air is pure and the situationhealthy. The inhabitants are under the necessity of supplyingthemselves with water from the valley, as there are no wells onaccount of the rocky height it stands on, which is attended withinconvenience and expense; otherwise it would be a desirable residencefor those who wish to unite economy with a change of climate. During the Vendean war, this town became, at different periods, thevictim of either party as they were successful; and it sufferedseverely. The hotel kept by Gautier (Les trois Lions), which islikewise la Poste, and le Bureau des Diligences, is the best, andthe people are very obliging; but it partakes of the same wantof cleanliness, that so invariably distinguishes all similarestablishments in this country. CHAP. III. FROM MORTAGNE TO RENNES, SOEURS DE LA CHARITÉ. ALENÇON, LAVAL, VITRÉ, THE RESIDENCE OF THE CELEBRATED MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ. RENNES. I travelled by the diligence from Mortagne to Alençon and Laval: wearrived at the former place to dinner, and at the latter to remain allnight. The carriage was filled with _Soeurs de la Charité_, "Qui, pour le malheur seul connoissant la tendresse, Aux besoins du vieil-age immollent leur jeunesse, " on their way to different places in Bretagne, on charitable missions, by the order of the Superior at Paris. Four of these were young andbeautiful women, none of whom could have attained the age of twenty;yet these females had already devoted themselves to attend on the sickand poor wherever their services might be required, for which purposethey receive a suitable education, in an Hospital at Paris, in suchbranches of medicine and surgery as may render them useful. Theyare distributed throughout the kingdom to attend the hospitals andprisons, which they do with the delicacy and attention peculiar totheir sex. Of all the classes of females who thus devote themselves toa religious life, and to acts of charity, none are more respected, ormore truly serviceable to their fellow-creatures. Their dress consistsof a coarse brown jacket and gown, with a high linen cap, sloping downover the shoulders, and a rosary hanging round their waist. Quitting Beauregard we crossed the river Sart: here the Province ofLe Perche terminates, and we enter that of Normandy. For many miles, travelling close to the Forest of Bourse, the roads are excellent, though hilly, and the country highly cultivated in all directions. Thepeasantry were getting in the hay and rye harvest, and large tracts ofwheat and barley were nearly ready for cutting. The town of Alençon is the capital of L'Orne-sur-Sart. It stands inthe middle of a fertile plain. The lace made here is the most valuableof any manufactured in France. The Hotel of the Prefecture is afine building. After dinner I went to the theatre, (formerly an oldmanufactory), to see the _Hotel Garni_ and _Les deux Suisses_: bothperformances were of a very moderate cast. The audience consistedprincipally of the military in garrison. On the road from Alençon to Laval, we were guarded the whole day bytwo troopers of the Gendarmerie, who are quartered along the wholeline of road from the capital; they are well armed and mounted, andkeep a very vigilant guard. At every place we stopped our passportswere examined. The police of this country is observed with greaterrigor than at any former period of its history, with regard topassports. The circumstances under which the restoration took place, the political state of France, in regard to other powers, theconflicting interests and opinions of various parties, probably renderit highly expedient. On the arrival of a stranger at Paris, hispassport must be presented, and inscribed in the police book. The revision of the one under which the person has travelled isindispensably necessary. It is then carried to the British Ambassador, (if the stranger be of that nation), or to the minister of thatcountry to which he belongs, where it must obtain the Ambassador'ssignature. It is next taken to the office of the Minister of ForeignAffairs, where it is deposited until the following day, for which tenlivres are charged, and afterwards to the Préfecture of the Police, tobe signed there in its turn: and when all this is done no one can quitthe capital for the interior without its being again signed at thePréfecture of the police. From Alençon, we passed the Briante, a small river, at Ville Neuve, where the road begins to skirt the Forest of Moultonue. At Mayenne, the river of that name divides the provinces. The whole of thiscountry is singularly beautiful. I observed vast quantities of buckwheat, which the French call _bled noir_ or _sarazin_. The country wasvery much enclosed, producing a great contrast to the vast tracts ofland through which I had passed without a single division. At two leagues from Mayenne we crossed the river Aisne, windingthrough a beautiful valley, between Martigné and Louverné. On the leftthe river forms a small lake, surrounded by a wood at the foot of avery long and steep hill. The town of Mayenne is ancient and irregularly built, the riverMayenne running through it. The ruins of an old wall and some decayedtowers remain of the fortifications which were taken by assault, afterseveral bloody attempts, during the siege by the English, in 1424. At Laval, where I stopped, after again crossing the Mayenne, Ientered the province of Bretagne: it is an old dirty town, completelyintersected by the river, and has a manufactory for coarse cloths andcottons. The _Tête Noire_ is one of the worst inns I have met with inthe country. The department of the Isle-et-Vilaine commences here. This place is celebrated in the history of the Vendean war by therefuge Madame de Laroche-Jaquelin sought there, after the deplorabledefeat of the royalist army at the battle of Mans, where it receivedits death-blow. The wreck of that army, under M. De Laroche-Jaquelin, were driven from it again on the following day, and from thathour never rallied so as to make any stand against the victoriousrepublicans. Quitting Laval the day after my arrival, I ascended a long and steephill, travelled by the side of the forest of Petre, and came to Vitré, where I remained all night for the purpose of visiting the château ofthe celebrated Madame de Sévigné, [4] whose estate has descended to adistant branch of her family, who had the good fortune to save it fromdestruction during the revolution. The grounds are kept in excellentorder. Her picture hangs in the apartment in which she composed herinteresting and elegant letters, and every article of furniturecarefully preserved is shown to strangers. The distance from Vitré toRennes is seven leagues, over a road which becomes gradually less andless Interesting. [Footnote 4: Marie de Rabutin, Marchioness de Sevigné, was thedaughter of the Baron de Chantal, and born in 1626: she espoused atthe age of eighteen the Marquis de Sévigné, who fell in a duel in1651, leaving her with one son and a daughter, to whose educationshe paid strict attention: the daughter married in 1669 the Count deGrignan, Commandant in Provence, and it was on a visit to her that theMarchioness caught a fever and died in 1696. Her son Charles, Marquisde Sevigné, was one of the admirers of Ninon de L'Enclos, and hada dispute with Madame Dacier respecting the sense of a passage inHorace. He died in 1713. (Moreri. )] Rennes is the chief city of the Isle-et-Vilaine, and in former timeswas the capital of Bretagne. It is a large ancient built town, standing on a vast plain, between the rivers Isle and Vilaine. It hasa hall of justice, (Cour Royale, ) an episcopal palace, and a foundryfor cannon. A more dismal dirty looking city, or a more uninterestingone to a stranger, is seldom to be seen. Few traces remain of itsancient splendor; the old rampart, which once encompassed it, nowforms a promenade. Its commerce is considerable, being the entrepôt for grain and cattle, with which it supplies Paris and the Southern Provinces, not soabundant in their produce. Jane of Flanders, Countess of Montfort, the most extraordinary woman of her time, resided here, during theimprisonment of her husband in the palace of the Louvre, by Philippede Valois, [5] when Edward the Third of England invaded France. Hennebon, when attacked by Charles of Blois, was defended by theCountess, and relieved by Sir Walter Manny, whom Edward had sent witha body of 6, 000 archers to her succour. The garrison, encouraged byso rare an example of female valour, defended themselves against animmense army, composed of French, Spaniards, Genoese, and Bretons, who frequently assaulted it, and were as vigorously repulsed. On oneoccasion, Froissart mentions her sallying out at the head of a body oftwo hundred cavalry, throwing the enemy into great confusion, doinggreat execution among them, and setting fire to the tents andmagazines, which were entirely destroyed. [Footnote 5: Among the brave knights who engaged in so many battlesand perilous adventures, and other feats of arms, Froissart mentionsPhilip, as opposed to those heroes of high renown, Edward of England, the Prince of Wales his son, the Duke of Lancaster, Sir Reginald LordCobham, Sir Walter Manny of Hainault, Sir John Chandos, Sir FulkHarley, and many others recorded in his book for worth and prowess. "In France also was found good chivalry, strong of limb and stout ofheart, and in great abundance, for the kingdom of France was neverbrought so low as to want men ever ready for combat. Such was KingPhilipe de Valois, a bold and hardy knight, and his son King John, also John king of Bohemia, and Charles Count of Alençon his son". ] The population of Rennes is 27, 000. It is at present garrisoned by onethousand troops, and people are of opinion that government finds it noeasy task to keep down the spirit of the Vendeans, who are said tobe, "plus Royalistes que le Roi". There appears every where a strongspirit of dissatisfaction on the part of the Royalists, at the generalpreference given to those who were employed under the late ruler inplaces of public trust, and who were avowed enemies to the restorationof Louis XVIII. CHAP. IV. ROUTE FROM RENNES TO NANTES. CITY OF NANTES. HISTORICAL ANECDOTES. Arriving at the first post, we crossed the river Vilaine, and betweenthis and Rondun passed the river Bruck, and ascended a high mountainbetween Rondun and La Bréharaye. At this place we quitted thedepartment of the Isle-et-Vilaine. Crossing the Cher, we arrived atDerval, and from thence at Nozai, passing several large lakes, and then over the river Don. The whole of this distance, with theexception of the hill already mentioned, is composed of flat sandyplains, mostly uncultivated, and the road is very rough. From Nozai to Ancenis we crossed the river Isac; from thence to Redon, Herié, to La Croix Blanche, along the bank of the river; and aftermounting another steep hill, we descended into an extensive plain, leading to Gesvres and Nantes. The whole of this country north of the Loire, from Rennes to Nantes, the triangular point resting upon Angers, is the country of theChouans, which it is necessary, in reference to the Vendean war, todistinguish from the country south of the Loire, in the department ofthe Loire Inférieure, called le Bocage, or la Vendée. Although thelatter was the scene of the more desperate warfare between therepublicans and the royalists, yet the former had its share ofbloodshed and misery. The whole country on both banks of the Loire, asfar as Angers, is classic ground to those who revere the efforts bywhich the Vendeans so long resisted the republicans. The city of Nantes is the chief seat of the Préfecture of thedepartment of the Loire Inférieure, standing on the right bank of theriver, surrounded by its ancient rampart, of a circular form, and ingood preservation: on the opposite bank stand the ruined towerand mouldering bastions of Permil. This spot is interesting to anEnglishman, from the memorable events to which the fatal pretensionsof Edward the Third gave rise, and which occupy the pages of Frenchand English history, during a period of more than a century[6]. [Footnote 6: In 1343, Edward the Third laid siege to this place. Froissart mentions the English army being drawn out on a hill, inbattle array, near the town. The ground rises a little in thisdirection, but, I should suppose, it must have been on the right bank, as the country there is hilly, and this ancient fortress must havedefended the passage of the river. "The king himself, " says theChronicle, "with the rest of his army, advanced towards Rennes, burning and ruining the country on all sides, and was most joyfullyreceived by the whole army who lay before it, and had been there fora considerable time. When he had tarried there five days, he learnedthat the Lord Charles of Blois was at Nantes, collecting a large forceof men at arms. He set out, therefore, leaving those whom he had foundat Rennes, and came before Nantes, which he besieged as closely as hecould, but was unable to surround it, such was its size and extent. The marshals, therefore, and their people, overran the country anddestroyed it. The king of England, one day, drew out his army inbattle array on a hill near Nantes, in expectation that the LordCharles would come forth and offer him an opportunity of fighting withhim: but, having waited from morning until noon in vain, they returnedto their quarters: the light horse, however, in their retreat, galloped up to the barriers, and set fire to the suburbs". "The king of England, during the siege, made frequent skirmishes, butwithout success, always losing some of his men; when, therefore, hefound he could gain nothing by his assaults, and that the Lord Charleswould not come out into the plains to fight him, he established therethe Earl of Oxford, Sir Henry Beaumont, the Lord Percy, the Lord Roos, the Lord Mowbray, the Lord Delawar, Sir Reginald Cobham, Sir JohnLisle, with six hundred men armed, and two hundred archers". The king himself advanced into the country of Bretagne, wasting itwherever he went, until he came to the town of Dinant, of which SirPeter Porteboeuf was governor. He immediately laid siege to it allround, and ordered it to be vigorously assaulted. Those within made avaliant resistance. Thus did the king of England in one season, andin one day, make an assault by himself, or those ordered by him, uponthree cities in Bretagne, and a good town, viz. Rennes, Vannes, andNantes. The brave Sir Walter Manny was left before Vannes, with fivehundred men at arms, and six thousand archers, while the king withthe rest of his army advanced towards Rennes and Nantes. This gallantsoldier, at the battle of Calais, had this singular honour conferredon him by his sovereign, who, with his valiant son the Prince ofWales, both served under his banner. --Edward said to Sir Walter Manny, "Sir Walter, I will that you be the chief of this enterprise, and Iand my son will fight under your banner". The lively and picturesque historian then gives a very interestingaccount of the above action, which was fought the last day of December1348, and of the gallantry of Edward's conduct to his prisoner, SirEustace de Ribeaumont. "We will now speak of the King of England, who was there incognito, under Sir Walter Manny's banner. He advanced with his men on foot, to meet the enemy, who were formed in close order, with their pikesshortened to five feet, planted out before them. The first attack wasvery sharp and severe. The King singled out Sir Eustace de Ribeaumont, who was a strong and hardy knight: he fought a long time marvellouslywell with the King, so that it was a pleasure to see them; but, by theconfusion of the engagement, they were separated; for two large bodiesmet where they were fighting, and forced them to break off the combat. "On the side of the French there was excellent fighting, by SirGeoffrey de Chargny, Sir John de Landas, Sir Hector, and Sir Gavin deBallieul, and others; but they were all surpassed by Sir Eustace deRibeaumont, who that day struck the King twice down on his knees:at last, however, he was obliged to present his sword to the King, saying, 'Sir Knight, I surrender myself your prisoner, for the honourof the day must fall to the English. ' "All that belonged to Sir Geoffry de Chargny were either slain orcaptured: among the first was Sir Henry du Bois, and Sir Peppin deWerré; Sir Geoffry and the rest were taken prisoners. The last thatwas taken, and who in that day had excelled all, was Sir Eustace deRibeaumont. "When the engagement was over, the King returned to the Castle atCalais, and ordered all the prisoners to be brought before him. TheFrench taken, knew for the first time, that the King of England hadbeen there in person, under the banner of Sir Walter de Manny. "The King said he would this evening of the new year entertain themall at supper in the Castle. When the hour for supper was come, thetables spread, and the King and his Knights dressed in new robes, aswell as the French, who, notwithstanding they were prisoners, madegood cheer (for the King wished it should be so), the King seatedhimself at table, and made those Knights do the same around him in amost honourable manner. The gallant Prince of Wales, and the Knightsof England, served up the first course, and waited on their guests. Atthe second course, they went and seated themselves at another table, where they were served, and attended on very quietly. "When supper was over, and the tables removed, the King remained inthe Hall among the English and French Knights, bare-headed, except achaplet of fine pearls, which was round his head. He conversedwith all of them; but when he came to Sir Geoffry de Chargny, hiscountenance altered, and looking at him askance, he said, 'SirGeoffry, I have but little reason to love you, when you wished toseize upon me by stealth last night, what had given me so muchtrouble to acquire, and cost me such sums of money' (Sir Geoffry hadendeavoured to bribe the garrison to put him in possession of it inthe night previous to the battle): 'I am, however, rejoiced to havecaught you thus in attempting it. '--When he came to Sir Eustace deRibeaumont, he assumed a cheerful look, and said with a smile, 'SirEustace, you are the most valiant knight in Christendom that I eversaw attack his enemy, or defend himself. I never yet found any one inbattle, who, body to body, had given me so much to do as you have donethis day. I adjudge to you the prize of valour, above all the knightsof my Court, as what is justly due to you. '--The King then took offhis chaplet, which was very rich and handsome, and placing it on thehead of Sir Eustace, said, 'Sir Eustace, I present you with thischaplet, as being the best combatant this day, either within orwithout doors; and I beg of you to wear it this year for the love ofme. I know that you are lively and amorous, and love the company ofladies and damsels; therefore say, wherever you go, that I gave it toyou. I also give you your liberty, free of ransom; and you may set outto-morrow, and go whither you will. '"] The river Loire, which is crossed by seven bridges, winds through thetown. They are the Pont Rousseau, De Permil, D'Aiguillon, Feydeau, Dela Belle Croix, Brisebois, and Toussaint. The houses are regular andhandsome, having in some places a very singular appearance, from theground having sunk, and the foundations given way, causing them tolean in various directions from the perpendicular line. In point ofcommerce, at one period antecedent to the Revolution, Nantes was themost considerable sea-port in France: since the loss of its West Indiatrade, especially with Saint Domingo, it has been greatly reduced. The rich plains which surround it on three sides, in the form of anamphitheatre, and the river covered with vessels and boats, give ita most lively appearance. It has a large Theatre, a Royal College(lately the Lyceum), a Commercial Tribunal, a handsome Exchange, aBishop's Palace, Hall of the Préfecture, Public Library, Anatomicaland Surgical Academies, Botanical Garden, Museum of Natural History, and a foundry for cannon. The latter is in the old and decaying Château on the bank of theriver, called Goulemme. One of its bastions was blown up a few yearssince by accident, which has shaken and destroyed the whole fabric;but it is still capable of holding a garrison, and is a fine monumentof ancient fortification. It was once the residence of Henry IV. OfFrance, at the time he signed the celebrated edict, (1598, ) in favourof the reformed religion, afterwards revoked by Louis XIV. In 1685, and which occasioned such deplorable consequences to the Frenchnation. M. De Sainte Foix, in his historical Essays upon Paris, vol. I. P. 113, speaking of the Rue de Grenelle, in the quarter of SaintEustache, gives the following curious account of the birth of thisgreat King, whose memory is revered in France, beyond that of all theother monarchs who have swayed the Gallic sceptre. "Jeanne d'Albret, being desirous of following her husband to the warsof Picardy, the King her father told her, that in case she proved withchild, he wanted her to come and lie-in at his house; and that hewould bring up the child himself, whether a boy or a girl. ThisPrincess finding herself pregnant, and in her ninth month, set outfrom Compiègne, passed through all France as far as the Pyrenees, andarrived in fifteen days at Pau in Béarn. She was very desirous to seeher father's will. It was contained in a thick gold box, on which wasa gold chain, that would have gone twenty-five or thirty times roundher neck. She asked it of him:--'It shall be yours, ' said he, 'as soonas you have shown me the child that you now carry; and that you maynot bring into the world a crying or a pouting child, I promise youthe whole, provided that whilst you are in labour, you sing theBearnese song _Notre Dame du bout du Pont aidez-moi en cette heure_". No sooner was the Princess safely delivered, than her father, placingthe gold chain on her neck, and giving her the gold box wherein washis will, said to her: 'These are for you, daughter, but this is forme;' and took the child in his gown, without waiting for its beingdressed in form, and carried it into his chamber. The little Princewas brought up in such a manner as to be able to undergo fatigue andhardship; frequently eating nothing but common bread. The good Kinghis grandfather ordered it thus, and would not let him be delicatelypampered, in order that from his infancy he might be inured toprivation. He has often been seen, according to the custom of thecountry, amongst the other children of the Castle and village ofCoirazze, bare-footed and bare-headed, as well in winter as in summer. Who was this Prince?--Henry IV. "Being descended from the Kings of France, he became the heir to thatKingdom; but as he was educated a Protestant, his claim was resisted. He early distinguished himself by feats of arms. After the peace ofSaint Germain, in 1570, he was taken to the French Court, and twoyears afterwards married Margaret, sister of Charles IX. (At therejoicings on this occasion the infamous massacre of _La SaintBarthélémy_ took place. ) In 1589 he succeeded to the throne of France;but his religion proving an obstacle to his coronation, he consentedto abjure it in 1593. In 1598 he issued the edict of Nantes, grantingtoleration to the Protestants". Mezeray, speaking of the marriage of the King of Navarre (afterwardsHenry IV. ) with Margaret de Valois, says, "There were many diversions, tournaments, and ballets at Court; and amongst others, one whichseemed to presage the calamity that was so near bursting out upon theHuguenots--the King and his brothers defending Paradise against theKing of Navarre and his brothers, who were repulsed and banished toHell;" and Sainte Foix, in his relation of the horrible massacre, gives a detail, which in the present age appears almost incredible. Catherine of Medicis, whose abominable politics had corrupted thedisposition of her son, was at the head of the cabinet council whoagreed to the murder of more than one hundred thousand Protestants;and the miserable bigot Charles IX. Stationed during the massacre atthe window of a house then belonging to the Constable of Bourbon, fired with his own hands upon the Huguenots with a long blunderbuss, whilst they were trying to escape across the river. The River Erdré runs northward of the city, and forms a beautifulfeature, winding for many miles among cultivated fields and woodlands, through a country agreeably diversified with villas, to which thewealthier inhabitants retire during the summer months. The riverresembles a lake for the greater part of its course, and is called theBarban. The Gothic church of Saint Pierre, built by the English in 1434, isa fine old structure: having been much neglected for many years, andgreatly defaced during the Revolution, it was at this time restoring. Among the monuments about to be replaced, was an excellent one of Annede Bretagne, whose effigy, and that of her husband, are as large aslife. The allegorical figures of Justice, Temperance, Prudence, andFortitude, the twelve Apostles, and the supporters to the Arms (agreyhound and a lion), are all executed in the finest white marble. They were hidden during the Revolution, and have only very lately beendiscovered, as have also some capital paintings piously preservedfor the Church. Anne was first married to Charles VIII. In 1499, andafterwards to Louis XII. She died at the Château de Blois in 1514, andLouis in 1515. The climate of Nantes is mild, and reckoned remarkably healthy: everyarticle of life is cheap, and from its mild temperature it aboundsin the finest fruits and most excellent wines. Its population isestimated at 60, 000 inhabitants. The numbers that were destroyedduring the Revolution, or, as the French emphatically term it, "Lerégne de la Terreur, " were never ascertained; but the frightfulhistory of that bloody period would probably justify the computationat half the number of its present population, many having fallenvictims to the murders that were termed "_Noyades_, " independent ofthose who perished in the Vendean war. The spot where the gallant Charette was shot, with several otherleaders of the Vendean army, is shown; and in the cemetery, a largemound of earth marks the place where the bodies were thrown in, at thetime of the "_Fuzillades_" when the infamous Carrier presided at theexecution of the brave Royalists. [7] The print beneath represents thismonster on the banks of the Loire directing the Noyades. [Illustration] [Footnote 7: Chaque nuit on venait en prendre par centaines, pour lesmettre sur les bateaux. Là on liait les malheureux deux à deux, eton les poussait dans l'eau à coups de baïonette. On saisissaitindistinctement tout ce qui se trouvait à l'entrepôt, tellementqu'on noya un jour l'état major d'une corvette Anglaise, qui étaitprisonnier de guerre. Une autre fois, Carrier, voulant donner unexemple de l'austérité des moeurs républicaines, fit enfermer troiscent filles publiques de la ville, et les malheureuses créaturesfurent noyées. Enfin, l'on estime qu'il a péri à l'entrepôt quinzemille personnes en un mois. --_Mémoires de Madame la Marquise deLaroche-Jaquelin_. ] At the end of a fine avenue of trees, on the Boulevard, is a largeand splendid mansion built by that Deputy, and which is at presentinhabited by a merchant. Carrier's mistress (to whom he left it, together with a very considerable fortune, amassed from the spoilsof his plunder, and the murder of the innocent inhabitants) was verylately sentenced to two years' hard labour for some crime she hadcommitted: and it is no less remarkable, that, of the remaininginhabitants known to have participated in the atrocities of thatfrightful period, there is not one but is reduced to poverty, and mostof them in the extreme of wretchedness, shunned by all, and sufferingthe ignominy they have so justly merited! CHAP. V. COUNTRY SOUTH OF THE LOIRE. --LE BOCAGE. --CLISSON. --HISTORICALANECDOTES. --THE GARENNE, AND RIVER SÈVRES. The best method of travelling in this country is on horseback: infact, it is impossible to proceed in any other way, after quitting themain road. Having procured a guide and horses, I set out early in themorning, crossing the Loire by the Pont Rosseau, to Verton, keepingalong the banks of the River Sèvres. Verton is a romantic villagestanding on a hill: most of the houses are in ruins, from the effectof the destructive war of La Vendée. From thence to Le Palet, mostintricate narrow roads, or more properly speaking, pathways, darkenedby the overhanging branches of trees, and in many parts deep withmire, from the sun's rays not being able to dry the ground, make itdifficult to proceed, and we several times lost our way. It was latebefore we reached Le Palet, and though I had not tasted food for manyhours, I could not resist stopping to view so interesting a spot, andmaking a hasty sketch of the ruins of the house in which Abélardwas born, and in which Héloïse resided with him before their finalseparation. The ruins of the House of Bérenger, the father of Abélard, are close to the church of Palet, on the left of the high road, threemiles distant from Clisson. Le Palet is thus described by a Frenchauthor, in the history of the Province. "Cet homme si célèbre par son savoir, ses amours, et ses infortunes, amena Héloïse au Palet lorsqu'il l'eût enlevée de chez le ChanoineFulbert, pour la soustraire au ressentiment de cet oncle jalouxet barbare; mais, obligé de quitter cette retraite paisible pourretourner à Paris, où l'appelaient ses nombreux disciples, le soin desa gloire et de sa fortune, Abélard confia à sa soeur sa chère Héloïseet le gage précieux qu'elle portait dans son sein. Elle accoucha auPalet d'un fils d'une si rare beauté, qu'elle le nomma Astralabe, c'est-à-dire, astre brillant; mais l'absence de celui qu'elle adoraitrendait moins vifs pour elle les doux plaisirs de la maternité; sonâme expansive et brûlante était livrée sans cesse à une inquiète etsombre mélancholie qu'elle ne parvenait sans doute à dissiper qu'envenant sur les bords de la Sèvres rêver à l'objet de sa tendresse, etsoupirer après son retour. Sept siècles se sont écoulés depuis cetteépoque, et les noms d'Abélard et d'Héloïse embellissent toujours cedélicieux ravage. On interroge avec une curiosité avide ces rocheséternelles et ces grottes mystérieuses qui furent les témoins discretsde leurs peines et de leurs plaisirs. On se reporte à ces tempsreculés où ces amants venaient dans cette solitude enchanteresse, seconfier mutuellement leur vifs inquiétudes; on croit les voir s'égarersous ces riants ombrages, et s'abandonner à toutes les inspirations del'éloquence, à toutes les illusions de l'amour". I arrived at Clisson just as the sun was disappearing, and its rayswere only sufficiently strong to reflect the ruined towers of theCastle in the river which runs at its foot. It will be much easierto imagine, than for me to convey the sensations I felt when I firstcaught a glimpse of it, with the story of La Roche-Jaquelin full inmy recollection! I alighted at a small cabaret, dignified by theappellation of the Hotel de la Providence, which seemed preferable toanother recommended to me by my guide, --such an one, indeed, as mightbe expected in a remote place like this: part of the roof was off, and, like most of the houses in the place, bore evident marks of thedesolating war that had been carried on here: many are still in ruins. The descent into the town is very steep and rugged, the road beingformed out of the solid rock. The master of the cabaret was sittingwith his family at the door, but the appearance of his mansion was sounpromising, that I thought it best to make some agreement, and a fewinquiries before dismounting;--these preliminaries being settled, andhaving consented to pay him fifty sous for supper and my bed, andthirty for breakfast, I entered the house: and never recollect havinga keener relish for a meal, or enjoying one more heartily, for I hadbeen sixteen hours on horseback. Fatigued and exhausted as I was, I rambled after dinner towards thedelightful grounds of La Garenne, belonging to Monsieur La Motte, whohas embellished them in a most interesting and romantic manner. The river Sèvres runs along the side, and separates them from the fineold Castle of Clisson, whose high and decaying towers and battlementsgive the beholder a noble idea of its ancient grandeur. The eveningwas a very fine one, --one of those delightful soft, clear skies usualat this season, the latter end of July. I sat myself down in thegrotto of Héloïse, --a spot of the deepest seclusion, formed, by thehand of Nature, of large masses of granite. The nightingales weresinging in the lofty trees at the back; on the sides were shrubs ofevery description intermingled with fruit trees, and the river havingseveral falls and little rocky islets, gave an air of delightfulenchantment to this most romantic scene. Héloïse! à ce nom, qui ne doit s'attendrir? Comme elle sut aimer! comme elle sut souffrir! At the entrance of the grotto are engraved these lines, nearly effacedby the hand of time. Héloïse peut-être erra sur ce rivage, Quand, aux yeux des jaloux dérobant son séjour, Dans les murs du Palet elle vint mettre au jour Un fils, cher et malheureux gage De ses plaisirs furtifs et de son tendre amour. Peut-être en ce réduit sauvage, Seule, plus d'une fois, elle vint soupirer, Et goûter librement la douceur de pleurer; Peut-être sur ce roc assise Elle rêvait à son malheur. J'y veux rêver aussi; j'y veux remplir mon coeur Du doux souvenir d'Héloïse. I had but a few weeks before seen the tomb of Abélard and Héloïse inthe Cemetery of Père la Chaise at Paris, whither it had been recentlyremoved from the Convent of the Augustins, at which latter place Ihad formerly made the annexed drawing of it. I had likewise been verylately at Argenteuil, once the place of her asylum described by Pope: In these deep solitudes and awful cells-- and had the same day witnessed the ruins of the house in which Abélardwas born, and in which Héloïse resided and became a mother, and fromwhence she used to make frequent visits to this spot: all thesecircumstances combined, gave the scene before me a most powerfulinterest. I rose early the next day, anxious to revisit a place whichhad afforded me such delight the previous evening. Wandering by thebeautiful banks of the river, along its green meadows, in a woodyrecess, I observed the following lines beneath an urn, cut in the rockon which it rested: Consacrer dans l'obscurité, Ses loisirs à l'étude, à l'amitié sa vie, Sont des plaisirs dignes d'envie; Etre chéri vaut mieux qu'être vanté! [Illustration: RUINS OF ABÉLARD'S HOUSE. ] A little further on, is a stone pillar, with a venerable accacia treespreading its leaves over it. It has the following Latin inscription: VII IM CAESAR AVGVSTVS PONTIFEX MAX VIAM. OLIM A CONIVINCO AD LIMONEM IMP. CAESAR. TRAJ. ADRIANVS AVG PM. TRIB. POT. VIAM AB AVGVSTO STATAM REFICIT. [8] [Footnote 8: Auguste étendit jusqu'à La Loire La Gaule Aquitanique, autrefois bornée par la Garonne, et comprit L'Armorique dans laProvince Celtique ou Lyonnaise. L'Empereur Adrian, ayant fait depuisune nouvelle distribution des Gaules, divisa La Lyonnaise en deux, etmit L'Armorique dans la seconde; enfin cette Lyonnaise ou Celtiqueayant été encore divisée en deux, Tours devint la Métropole de latroisième, qui comprenait la Touraine, le Maine, l'Anjou, et laBretagne. --_Histoire de Bret_. ] [Illustration: GROTTO of HÉLOÏSE at CLISSON. ] [Illustration: TOMB of ABÉLARD and HÉLOÏSE. ] Farther on several large blocks of granite are piled together in sostrange and curious a manner, that it must have been the work ofNature alone:--one of them has these beautiful lines carved on it: O! Limpide Rivière! O Rivière chérie! Puisse la sotte vanité Ne jamais dédaigner ta rive humble et fleurie! Que ton simple sentier ne soit point fréquenté Par aucun tourment de la vie Tels que l'ambition, l'envie, L'avarice, et la fausseté! Un bocage si frais, un séjour si tranquille, Aux tendres sentiments doit seul servir d'azile. Ces rameaux amoureux entrelassés exprès Aux Muses, aux Amours, offrent leur voile épais; Et ce cristal d'une onde pure A jamais ne doit réfléchir Que les grâces de la nature Et les images du plaisir. Close to the brink of the river stands a prodigiously large graniterock, immediately facing the waterfall called le Bassin de Diane: onit are these words: SA MASSE INDESTRVCTIBLE A FATIGVÉ LE TEMS. A quotation from Delille. [Illustration: GRANITE ROCK in the GARENNE. ] The French writers, speaking of this interesting place, observe:"Comment soupçonner en effet qu'au milieu de cette _terrible Vendée_, qu'au centre de cet impénétrable et sombre Bocage, il existe un paysdélicieux et fertile, couvert de mines séculaires qui rappelent tousles souvenirs historiques de notre ancienne France, comme le caractèrede ses habitans en rappele les moeurs, le courage, et la loyauté". On the opposite side of the river, a little to the right, stands theancient Château de Clisson, celebrated in the modern as well as theancient history of Bretagne. Its lofty turrets, and decaying bastions, extend a considerable distance along the shore of the Sèvres, recalling to mind the ancient days of chivalry, when bravery, love, and religion, were so singularly blended together, and gave a romantichalf-polished manner to the greatest barbarians. In later times itbecame the scene of events which no one can contemplate without thedeepest interest. In viewing this magnificent ruin, it is impossiblenot to regret that a place so frequently the theatre of nobleachievements, inhabited by one of the greatest men that France hasproduced, François I. Connétable de Clisson, [9] father to Anne ofBretagne, should have been so recently the scene of such savagehorrors and bloodshed! Now, all is silence and solitude: and amidstthe noble ruins which were once decorated with banners, and thehard-earned trophies of victory, --where high-born knights and splendiddames mingled in mirth and festivity to the echoes of the minstrels, singing lays of love or battle, --are now only to be seen and heard thebirds of prey, hovering over a solitary tree, planted to mark the spotwhere a deed was committed which has not often its parallel in thedarkest histories of the most ferocious nations. [Footnote 9: In the "Histoire Généalogique de France", tom. Vi. Is anaccount of the Constable's death. "The Duke of Orleans, brother to theking, was very fond of a Jewess, whom he privately visited. Havingsome reason to suspect that Peter de Craon, Lord of Sablé and de laFerté-Bernard, his chamberlain and favourite, had joked with theDuchess of Orleans upon his intrigue, he turned him out of his housewith infamy. Craon imputed his disgrace partly to the Constable ofClisson. On the night of the 13th June, having waited for him at thecorner of the street _Coulture Ste. Catherine_, and finding he had butlittle company with him, he fell upon him at the head of a score ofruffians. Clisson defended himself for some time without any otherweapon than a small cutlass; but after receiving three wounds, fellfrom his horse, and pitched against a door, which flew open. Thereport of this assassination reached the king's ears just as he wasstepping into bed. He put on a great coat and his shoes, and repairedto the place where he was informed his constable had been killed. Hefound him in a baker's shop, wallowing in his blood. After his woundswere examined, "Constable, (said he to him), nothing was or ever willhe so severely punished". It was given out that Clisson made his willthe next day, and there was a mighty outcry about the sum of 1, 700, 000livres, which it amounted to. It should be observed, that duringtwenty-five years that he was in the service of France, he had soughtfor and beaten the English every where; that he gained the famousbattle of Robeck, and chastised the Flemish; that he enjoyed fortwelve years the salary and appointments of Constable; and that, moreover, his landed estate, (which included many castles inheritedfrom his ancestors, in Bretagne and Poitou, ) was very considerable. "] During the Vendean war, the royalists had been driven out of Clissonby the republicans, under the command of a ferocious jacobin. The townwas pillaged and burnt before they quitted it. Twenty-seven femaleshad, during the battle, concealed themselves among the ruins: wheninformation of it was given to the troops, who had already quitted theplace, they were ordered to return, and the whole of these unhappywomen were thrown alive into a well, where they perished!!! It hassince been filled up, and the lonely tree, just mentioned, now recordsthe bloody and inhuman deed. In the account of Clisson, by a late French author, no notice istaken of this circumstance. He merely observes, when mentioning thedestruction of the place, after the de la Roche-Jaquelin had quittedit, "Les Rives ombragées de la Sèvres, si séduisante par ses bellescascades et l'ensemble de ce paysage poétique, feroient de cettecontrée un séjour délicieux, si de tristes débris, qui heureusementdisparoissent tous les jours, ne rappelaient encore le souveniraffligeant de nos discordes civiles. Les armées Révolutionnaires quicombattirent les Vendéens, en 1793 et en 1794, employèrent inutilementpour les réduire le fer et le feu; la flamme atteignit les villes, lesvillages, les métairies, et jusqu'aux humbles chaumières; et, dans cevaste et épouvantable incendie, Clisson ne put échapper à une ruinecomplète. Jamais peut-être cette petite ville ne se seroit entièrementréédifié, sans une circonstance particulière qui contribua puissammentà la faire renoître de ces cendres". In the town of Clisson was born the celebrated Barin de laGalissonniere, Admiral of France, who fought the well-known actionoff Mahon, in the month of June, 1756, with Admiral Byng, who, inconsequence of his conduct on that occasion, was brought to a courtmartial and shot. The French writers make the following absurd remark, as to the _cause_ of his fate: "Les Anglais, furieux d'avoir étévaincus par un Amiral François, firent fusiller l'Amiral Byng". It isnow well known that he was sacrificed to an unprincipled ministerialfaction. The ancient Château de Clisson is built on a rock, on the bank of theSèvres, facing the mouth of the river, called Le Moine, which emptiesitself into the Sèvres at this place, so that the town of Clissonstands between the two rivers at their junction. An ancient bridge, from whence this view is taken, joins one part of the town to theother, and leads to the castle, which was once considered the barrierof Bretagne. The two rivers run over a bed of granite rock, which, insome places, forming a cataract, adds considerably to the surroundingscenery: large masses of this rock in many parts seem as if piled upby nature for the purpose of giving it a more romantic effect. Thewhole forms a most picturesque object, when viewed from the oppositeshore, from whence the sketch of the temple erected on the ruin of St. Gilles is taken; and the remembrance of its recent fate throws overthe scene a strong and melancholy interest. [Illustration: RUINS OF CLISSON. ] The castle is supposed to have been first erected by the Romans, as the Province formed a part of the Gaule Aquitanique, under theEmperors Augustus and Adrian. The French repaired it during the reign of Louis VIII. In 1223, underOlivier I. Sire de Clisson, as he is styled; and it was made a regularfortification, and surrounded by a wall a century after, by theConnétable: in 1464 the Duc de Bretagne, Francis II. Entirely finishedit. The Sire de Clisson, Olivier I. Who had served during one of theCrusades in Palestine, was knighted with several others, in 1218. "Unnombre prodigieux de Seigneurs Anglais, Normands, Angevins, Manceaux, Tourangeaux, et Bretons, prirent la Croix; Le Pape, Innocent III. Envoya en Bretagne, en 1197, Helvain, Moine de St. Denis, pour yprêcher une croisade. Une grande quantité de Bretons se laissèrentconduire en Syrie par ce Moine; et, en 1218, plusieurs SeigneursBretons suivirent leur exemple, entre autres, Hervé de Léon, Morvau, Vicomte du Fou, et le Sire de Clisson". From the construction of the towers and bastions, it is supposed thatat his return from the Holy Land, he had copied the Syrian style ofbuilding; and one of the towers, which is represented in the sketchof the gateway of the Château de Clisson, is still called La Tour desPélerins. This tower, which has been used as a dungeon, is the most perfect ofany remaining. In it are subterranean galleries, anciently used as aprison, and appropriated by the republicans to the same purpose. It isdreadful to think of the horrors that have been practised within itswalls, in our own time. [Illustration: TOUR des PÉLERINS. ] From the top of this tower the prospect is very extensive, and, duringthe year 1793, when the republican army quartered themselves in it, asentinel was placed there to give notice in case of the approach of anenemy. The historian of that period, speaking of the entrance to thistower, observes, in reference to the cruelties committed there in theVendean war: "Il existait au milieu de la dernière cour un très beau puits, taillédans le roc et extrêmement profond: il est actuellement comblé, etma plume se refuse à tracer les scènes horribles qui ensanglantèrentce lieu en 1793 et en 1795, tristes et épouvantables effets desguerres civiles!" This passage alludes, I imagine, to the circumstance related inpage 90. Within its walls are various inscriptions, many of them incharacters so difficult to decypher, that they remain unknown. Thefollowing has been rendered into more modern French by Cerutti. J'ai gravi, mesuré ces ruines sublimes; Mon coeur s'en est ému! De nos vaillants aïeux Tout y représentait les tournois magnanimes, Ils semblaient reparôitre et combattre à mes yeux; J'entendois sous leurs coups retentir les abîmes; Juge de leurs combats, idole de leur coeur, Du haut des tours, la dame admiroit le vainqueur. Casques et boucliers, cuirasses gigantesques, Cris d'armes, mot d'amour, devises de l'honneur, Carlets pour l'infidèle ou pour le suborneur, Tout garde sur ces murs vraiment chevaleresques. La mémoire d'un siècle où l'épée, où la foi, Où la galanterie étaient la seule loi. Louis IX. And Blanche of Castille, his queen, retired to Clisson, atthe time the English, under Henry III. Penetrated into Poitou, andwere received by Olivier de Clisson, who then garrisoned it. In the war of the League, which convulsed the kingdom of France, Clisson remained faithful to Henry III. And during the early partof the reign of his successor Henry IV. The Protestants were thereprotected, and established themselves in the fauxbourg. From theperiod at which Henry IV. Signed the edict at Nantes, 15th April, 1598, until the war of La Vendée, this celebrated fortress is no wherementioned by any of the French historians: it became neglected whenthe feudal system declined, and the republican army completed itsruin. The sad events of this period, and the destruction and carnagewhich followed, can never be effaced from the page of history. Theruined towns and villages prove the melancholy truth, that the generalcorruption of a nation prepares the way for general anarchy, and thatthe blindness of political rage is always more vindictive than evenprivate hatred. I can never sufficiently lament the absence, at this time, of Madamede La Roche-Jaquelin from the country, as she occasionally resides inthe neighbourhood, since the restoration of her property, (althoughher once noble residence is now in a state of ruin, ) occupying a smallchâteau at some small distance, which had partly escaped the fire anddestruction that had been fatal to most houses in the district. Whocan read the interesting memoirs of this Lady, and not sympathize inthe sufferings of herself, and of those brave and loyal people whoseheroic struggle against their republican oppressors lasted with littleintermission from the overthrow of the monarchy until its finalrestoration? Among the number of heroic females who, like Madame dela Roche-Jaquelin, thus distinguished themselves, was Madame de LaRochefoucault who, like her admirer Charette, was put to death atNantes. This lady, of an ancient and noble family, and of greatbeauty, signalized herself on various occasions, but being takenprisoner at the battle of the Moulin aux Chêvres, she was immediatelyshot! [Illustration: MILL AUX CHÊVRES. ] The whole history of this terrible war is filled with the nobledevotion of heroic females. The chiefs were attended in the mostsanguinary battles by ladies, who had themselves ornamented theirstandards with loyal and chivalrous emblems of the cause for whichthey were prepared to sacrifice themselves, and who were frequentlyseen rallying the broken troops, and falling, covered with wounds, bythe hands of their enemies! The annexed view of the Moulin aux Chêvres, which is renderedinteresting from the account given by Madame de la Roche-Jaquelin ofthe battle fought near it, will convey a tolerable idea of the sceneryof the country. The prodigious growth of the willow tree in Bretagne, is such as toclaim the peculiar notice of travellers: here they attain a giganticheight, no where else to be seen. Batard, in his "_Notices surles Végétaux_" mentions one in the commune of Pommeraie in thearrondissement de Beaupréau, whose age was supposed to be nearly twothousand years. Within the Château at Clisson are some very old ones, but the finest I observed were at the Moulin aux Chêvres. CHAP. VI. LIMITS AND GENERAL APPEARANCE OF LE BOCAGE. MODE OF WARFARE PRACTISEDBY THE VENDEANS. My opportunity of becoming acquainted with that singular districtcalled Le Bocage, will be best understood by very briefly sketching myroute through it. I traversed it, and the district called Le Loroux, by the route of Montaigne and Lege, and on my return I passed throughClisson, Vallet, and Loroux, along the banks of the Loire. By pursuingthis route, I had every where the interesting opportunity of exploringthe scene of that destructive warfare which had ravaged the towns andvillages of this part of France. At one period, the war of La Vendée extended to the north of theLoire, as far as Rennes, forming a triangle, the eastern point ofwhich rested on the town of Angers. To the south of the Loire itspread nearly as far as la Rochelle; and as in this part also itextended nearly to Angers, the tract over which it spread its ravagesformed nearly a square. The district called Loroux runs parallel withthe Loire: Le Bocage, which occupies both districts, and the wholecountry south of that river, is comprehended under the generalappellation of La Vendée. Under the old divisions of France Le Bocageformed part of the province of Poitou, and Le Loroux part of theprovinces of Anjou and Bretagne: but when, at the revolution, Francewas divided into departments, these two districts were denominated LaVendée, Les deux Sèvres, La Loire Inférieure, and Mayenne and Loire. La Vendée is an extremely interesting district, not merely on accountof the singular and heroic warfare that was carried on there solong, but also from the appearance of the country, and the manners, opinions, and general character of its inhabitants; and Le Bocage is, in all these respects, the most interesting part of La Vendée. InLe Bocage, the war was carried on with most wonderful vigour andpertinacity, as well as with almost unparalleled destruction andcruelty. Those who are acquainted only with the other parts of France, can form no idea of the aspect of this district, or of the manners ofits inhabitants; they differ so widely and essentially, that they seemto belong to another portion of the globe. It has always been regardedas the most fertile country in France; and, before the revolution, itwas undoubtedly one of the most populous. There are only two roads in the whole country: one of them runs fromNantes to la Rochelle, and the other from Bordeaux to Tours, throughPoitou: all the rest of this district is a complete labyrinth: thereare indeed numerous pathways, so very winding and narrow, that theyare much more calculated to harass and mislead, than to assist atraveller in his journey: these pathways are flanked by wide and deepditches, and almost rendered completely dark by lofty hedges on eachside of them, the trees of which meet at top, and thus form an arch:hence they are rough and uneven in summer, besides being intolerablyhot, and deep and miry in winter. To add to these inconveniences, thebed of a rivulet flowing along them frequently constitutes the onlypassage. Even when the traveller, after toiling along these dreadfulpathways, comes near a town or village, he generally finds that theapproach to it is practicable only by ascending irregular steps, cut out of the solid rock, on which they are built. The inhabitantsthemselves even are frequently puzzled by these pathways; and, afterwandering for a considerable length of time, at last find out thatthey have been travelling in a wrong direction. The whole country bears the appearance of an extensive and thickforest: this arises from the nature of the enclosures; they areextremely small, often not more than fifty or sixty perches, surrounded with strong hedges planted in the banks. Thesecircumstances alone would give the appearance just noticed; but theeffect is much increased from other causes. On each side of the banks, on which the trees are planted, there are ditches and drains, and themoisture which they constantly supply to their roots, renders theirgrowth very rapid and luxuriant; so that when we consider the numberof the trees and their great size, we shall not be surprised thatthe country looks like an immense forest. Sometimes the trees are sodisposed as to answer the purpose of a palisade; and this purpose theyanswer most effectually, not only from the great size and strength ofthe trees themselves, but also from the intervening spaces betweenthem being filled up with strong and impassable underwood [10]. [Footnote 10: A tract of about 150 miles square, at the mouth andon the southern bank of the Loire, comprehends the scene of thosedeplorable hostilities. The most inland part of the district, and thatin which the insurrection first broke out, is called _Le Bocage_; andseems to have been almost as singular in its physical conformation, as in the state and condition of its population. A series of detachedeminences, of no great elevation, rose over the whole face of thecountry, with little rills trickling in the hollows and occasionalcliffs by their sides. The whole space was divided into smallenclosures, each surrounded with tall wild hedges, and rows of pollardtrees; so that though there were few large woods, the whole regionhad a sylvan and impenetrable appearance. The ground was mostly inpasturage; and the landscape had, for the most part, an aspect ofwild verdure, except that in the autumn some patches of yellow cornappeared here and there athwart their green enclosures. Only two greatroads traversed this sequestered region, running nearly parallel, ata distance of more than seventy miles from each other. In theintermediate space, there was nothing but a labyrinth of wild anddevious paths, crossing each other at the extremity of almost everyfield--often serving, at the same time, as channels for the wintertorrents, and winding so capriciously among the innumerable hillocks, and beneath the meeting hedge-rows, that the natives themselves werealways in danger of losing their way when they went a league ortwo from their own habitations. The country, though rather thicklypeopled, contained, as may be supposed, few large towns; and theinhabitants, devoted almost entirely to rural occupations, enjoyed agreat deal of leisure. The noblesse or gentry of the country were verygenerally resident on their estates, where they lived in a style ofsimplicity and homeliness which had long disappeared from every otherpart of the kingdom. No grand parks, fine gardens, or ornamentedvillas; but spacious clumsy chateaux, surrounded with farm officesand cottages for the labourers. Their manners and way of life, too, partook of the same primitive rusticity. There was great cordiality, and even much familiarity, in the intercourse of the seigneurs withtheir dependants. They were followed by large trains of them in theirhunting expeditions, which occupied so great a part of their time. Every man had his fowling-piece, and was a marksman of fame orpretensions. They were posted in various quarters, to intercept ordrive back the game; and were thus trained, by anticipation, to thatsort of discipline and concert, in which their whole art of war wasafterwards found to consist. Nor was their intimacy confined to theirsports. The peasants resorted familiarly to their landlords foradvice, both legal and medical; and they repaid the visits in theirdaily rambles, and entered with interest into all the details of theiragricultural operations. They came to the weddings of their children, drank with their guests, and made little presents to the young people. On Sundays and holidays, all the retainers of the family assembled atthe château, and danced in the barn or the court-yard, according tothe season. The ladies of the house joined in the festivity, and thatwithout any airs of condescension or of mockery; for, in their ownlife, there was little splendour or luxurious refinement. Theytravelled on horseback, or in heavy carriages drawn by oxen; and hadlittle other amusement than in the care of their dependants, and thefamiliar intercourse of neighbours among whom there was no rivalry orprinciple of ostentation. From all this there resulted, as Madame de L. Assures us, a certaininnocence and kindliness of character, joined with great hardihood andgaiety, --which reminds us of Henry IV. And his Béarnois, --and carrieswith it, perhaps on account of that association, an idea of somethingmore chivalrous and romantic--more honest and unsophisticated, thanany thing we expect to meet with in this modern world of artifice andderision. There was great purity of morals accordingly, Mad. DeL. Informs us, and general cheerfulness and content in all thisdistrict;--crimes were never heard of, and lawsuits almost unknown. Though not very well educated, the population was exceedinglydevout;--though theirs was a kind of superstitious and traditionaldevotion, it must he owned, rather than an enlightened or rationalfaith. They had the greatest veneration for crucifixes and images oftheir saints, and had no idea of any duty more imperious than that ofattending on all the solemnities of religion. They were singularlyattached also to their curés, who were almost all born and bred in thecountry, spoke their _patois_, and shared in all their pastimes andoccupations. When a hunting-match was to take place, the clergymanannounced it from the pulpit after prayers, --and then took hisfowling-piece, and accompanied his congregation to the thicket. It wason behalf of these curés, in fact, that the first disturbances wereexcited. --_Edin. Rev. For Feb. _ 1816. ] This luxuriance of growth does not proceed entirely from the moisturesupplied by the ditches and drains; the soil naturally is uncommonlyfertile: and whatever springs from it, whether planted by the hand ofman, and nourished, while growing, by his attention and skill, or itsspontaneous production, bears witness to this uncommon fertility. The country abounds in corn and vineyards; the produce of the latterconsists principally in white vines. At the season of the year when Ipassed through it, the intermixture of the rich and soft yellow of thewheat nearly ripe, with the light green foliage of the vines, produceda most pleasing effect. In Poitou and Anjou, the harvest generallybegins about the latter end of June: this year it was late everywhere, but very abundant. The vineyards had mostly failed. Le Marais, which is also comprehended within the limits of Le Bocage, is that part of Lower Poitou, adjacent to the sea. There the countryis open and flat, and the passes are impracticable during the winter, and very difficult at other seasons of the year. The inhabitants of LeMarais formed a division of the army of the celebrated chief Charette. La Vendée was divided into two circuits; each army had its own, untilthe junction of the whole under La Roche-Jaquelin, &c; that ofCharette occupied the district of Chalans, Machecoul, la Roche SurYon, les Sables, a part of the districts of St. Florent, Vehiers, Chollet, Châtillon, la Châtaigneraie, a great part of the districtsof Clisson, Montaigne, Thouars, Parthenay, and Fontenay-le-peuple. Although the locality of Le Bocage is a perfect contrast to that of leMarais, nature seems to have exerted all her power in forming thesetwo districts into one extensive fortress, capable of opposing everything to an attack, and presenting so many means of defence, that itwas rarely possible for the enemy to lead a column, or to regulateits movements so as to preserve union in its marches or manoeuvres, dispositions for an attack, or retreat. The positions of the Vendeanscould never be understood, or their projects foreseen, in a countrywhere the frequent undulations of land, hedges, trees, and bushes, obstructing the surface, would not admit of seeing fifty paces round;and one of the republican generals, writing to the Convention, thus speaks of Charette's movements. "It is no easy matter to findCharette, particularly to bring him to action. To-day at the head often thousand men, the next day wandering with a score of horsemen, itis very rare that one can come up with him. When we believed him to bein our front, he was in our rear. Yesterday he threatened such a post, to-day he is ten leagues from it; more able to avoid than fight us, he almost always disconcerts, and often, without knowing it, all ourcombinations. He endeavours to surprise us, to carry off our patroles, and to kill our stragglers". The inhabitants of le Marais and le Bocage for a long period confinedthemselves to defensive warfare, for which nature seems to have formedtheir country. The situation of le Marais enabled the brave royaliststo receive succours from the English, and to facilitate and protectthe debarkation of such as they wished to procure from the North sideof the Loire, the coast being flat and easy of access by sea. The Vendeans, favoured by every natural advantage, had a peculiartactic which they knew perfectly well how to apply to their positionand local circumstances, and adopted a mode of fighting hithertounknown, and practicable in that country alone. Confident in thesuperiority which their mode of attack gave them, they never sufferedthemselves to be anticipated, they never engaged but when andwhere they pleased. Their dexterity in the use of fire arms was such, that no people, however well skilled in manoeuvring, could make suchgood use of a gun; the huntsman of Loroux, and the poacher of leBocage, having been always proverbial as excellent marksmen. It was nounusual thing for the Vendeans when at the plough, to carry with thema musket; and whenever they observed "a blue coat, " (as they calledthe republican soldiers) they stopt their plough, took up theirmusket, and fired at him; it seldom happened that they missed theobject of their vengeance. A melancholy circumstance, connected withthis mode of warfare, took place: the son of one of the Vendeanfarmers, or ploughmen, had been compelled to join the republican army;but having succeeded in escaping, he was hastening, in his republicanuniform, to rejoin his relations, when being observed by his father, while at the plough, the latter, unable from the distance to recognizehis son, and seeing only the uniform of an enemy, fired and shot him. Their attacks were always dreadful, sudden, and almost unforeseen, because it was very difficult to reconnoitre or obtain information soas to guard against surprise. Their order of battle was generally inthe form of a crescent, their wings being composed of the most expertmarksmen, who never fired without taking aim, and seldom ever missed. Their retreat was so precipitate that it was difficult to come upwith them, as they dispersed themselves through rough fields, hedges, woods, and bushes, knew all the bye-roads, secret escapes and defiles, and were acquainted with all the obstacles which could obstruct theirflight, and the means of avoiding them. Their mode of warfare wasaccording to the locality of the country, well calculated to prolongthe struggle and waste the strength of the forces sent to oppose them. In the district of les Sables, intersected by canals, rivulets, andsalt marshes, where there were scarcely carriage roads, but chieflybye-ways, and raised paths, a species of natural fortification wasevery where formed: this rendered any attack against them dangerous, and consequently it was most favourable for defence, particularly tothe inhabitants. The canals are in general from thirty to forty feetwide on the upper extremity of the banks. The Vendean, carrying hismusket in a bandoleer, and leaning upon a long pole, leaped from onebank to the other with amazing facility. When the pressure of theenemy would not admit of his doing this, without exposing himself totheir fire, he threw himself into a niole, (a kind of small boat, )very flat, and light, and crossed the canal with great rapidity, beingalways sufficiently shut up to hide himself from his pursuers: but hesoon appeared again, and firing at his enemy, again disappeared. Therepublican soldier to whom this mode of fighting was unknown, wasobliged to be continually upon his guard, to march along the shores ofthe canals, and to follow slowly their circuitous track, supporting atthe same time frequent skirmishes, while it took him several hoursto traverse a space which the Vendean commonly accomplished in a fewminutes. Among the difficulties which the execution of all military plans metwith in La Vendée, the nature and degree of which may be judged offrom the local dispositions and the kind of warfare carried on by theroyalists, there was one which was invincible, and which singularlyretarded the operations of the republicans. Whenever they weredesirous of sending an order from head quarters to a division at thedistance of twelve or fifteen leagues, the messenger was often obligedto travel fifty or sixty in order to avoid passing through therevolted country. Hence the impossibility of attempting anyexpedition, however necessary or desirable, which required to beexecuted without delay. The Vendeans would appear one day at a certainpoint to the number of several thousand men; measures were concertedfor attacking them the next day, but before that arrived they wereeight or ten leagues distant from the place where they had showedthemselves the day before. Thus were the republicans exposed to fruitless victories or disastrouschecks, which exhausted their men and resources. Masters of the fieldof battle, they found, says one of their generals, nothing but woodenshoes and some slain, never any arms or ammunition. The Vendean whenperceived, would either hide or break his gun, and in surrendering hislife, seldom left his weapon. Being well acquainted with the country, and more dexterous than the republicans, they carried scarcely anyartillery with them, four or five pieces sufficed for an army ofthirty or forty thousand men; these were generally light field pieces. Equally sparing of ammunition, they took but few waggons, one aloneserved the pieces, as they well knew it was not artillery that wouldprocure them the victory; thence, when the republicans met with anydisastrous affair, they lost from twenty to thirty pieces of cannon, and waggons in proportion; whereas when they gained a victory theyacquired only two or three pieces of cannon, with scarcely anyammunition. From this slight sketch of the nature of the country, sodisadvantageous to the invaders, and of the mode in which the Vendeanscarried on this unfortunate war, our surprise will cease at thedetermined and protracted resistance made to the republicans by thisloyal and brave people. For many years they defended their belovedcountry, and endured privations, and accumulated miseries, suchas human nature has seldom been exposed to. To use the words of arepublican general, "A girdle of fire enveloped the revolted country;fire, terror, and death, preceded the march". But the principal cause of the long resistance of the Vendeans mustbe sought for in their moral character; they were most honourablydistinguished by an inviolable attachment to their party, andunlimited and unshaken confidence in their chiefs; and an earnest, warm, but steady zeal, which supplied the place of discipline. Theirinvincible courage, both active and passive, was proof against everykind of danger, fatigue, and want. It has been well observed that"irregular and undisciplined wars are naturally far more prolific ofextraordinary incidents, unexpected turns of fortune, and strikingdisplays of individual talent, of vice and virtue, than the moresolemn movements of national hostility, where every thing is ina great measure provided and foreseen; and where the inflexiblesubordination of rank, and the severe exactions of a limited dutynot only take away the inducement, but the opportunity for thoseexaltations of personal feeling and adventure which produce the mostlively interest, and lead to the most animating results. In theunconcerted proceedings of an insurgent population, all is experimentand all is passion. The heroic daring of a simple peasant lifts himat once to the rank of a leader, and kindles a general enthusiasm towhich all things become possible". From the operation of these causes the Vendeans were enabled to sendforth formidable armies: and such was the confidence of the chiefs inthe troops, that they never would have been subdued if they hadnot lost their leaders in the various hard fought actions, orbeen deprived of their services by their mutual jealousy. Anothercircumstance proved equally fatal to them; after the fall of thegallant Lescure, they most imprudently quitted the strong country forthe open plains on the left bank of the Loire. CHAP. VII. RIVER LOIRE, FROM NANTES TO ANGERS. The Loire is one of the finest rivers in France; and perhaps there isno river in the world, that equals that part of it, which flows fromAngers to Nantes: the breadth of the stream; the islands of wood; theboldness, culture, and richness of its banks, all conspire torender it worthy of this character. As a useful river it is equallycelebrated: its banks being bordered by rich and populous cities; andthe benefits it renders to industry and commerce being incalculable. Its stream is so rapid and strong, that in ascending it is generallynecessary from Nantes to Angers, to track the barge: this mode ofproceeding, though slow, has its advantages; as it gives greater timeand opportunity for observing all the various beauties of scenerywhich present themselves at every turn of the river. I embarked early in the morning with a favourable breeze from thewest: we soon began to be interested, and almost enchanted, with therich and beautiful scenery, which almost every moment opened to ourview in endless variety. This scenery not only pleased the eye andimagination by its beauty, but also excited high and deep interestby the fertility which it displayed. The banks were lined with cornfields, vineyards, or orchards. Occasionally the nature and interestof the prospect were agreeably diversified by the spire of a conventor the turrets of a chateau, rising above gardens or groves, or richwoodlands. At other places there were still more decided marks ofpopulation, for villages, country-houses, and farms, caught the eye, and added to the charms by which it was so willingly and powerfullydetained. The whole country on each side is well cultivated. But even this partof France, interesting and beautiful as it is, cannot be traversedwithout the recollection of the horrors of the revolution breaking inupon, and greatly damping the interest and pleasure derived from theview of the scenery. As we approached the ruined tower of Oudon, it was impossible not to feel a melancholy regret at the scenes ofunparalleled bloodshed that took place on the rich and delightfulbanks of this river during the phrenzy of the revolution. Thesedreadful recollections assailed us most powerfully as we came in viewof Ancenis on the left, and of Saint Florent le Viel to the right. At the latter place we stopped for the night. It was a fine sereneevening, the wind had left us, and we were forced to track the shorefor some distance before we reached it: just as the sun was setting Imade a sketch of its ruined convent on the hill. [Illustration: TOUR D'OUDON on the RIVER LOIRE. ] [Illustration] After the defeat of the Vendean army, and their retreat across theLoire at this place, says a French writer, "There were seen uponthe right bank, following the army, which increased prodigiously, a multitude of bishops, priests, monks, religious persons, oldcountesses, baronesses, &c. &c. Who were carried off by cart-loads, and which did nothing but embarrass the army. [11] There were a greatmany of them killed at the battle of Mans". [Footnote 11: On gaining the heights of St. Florent, one of the mostmournful, and at the same time most magnificent spectacles, burst uponthe eye. These heights form a vast semicircle; at the bottom of whicha broad bare plain extends to the edge of the water. Near an hundredthousand unhappy souls now blackened over that dreary expanse, --oldmen, infants and women, mingled, with the half-armed soldiery, caravans, crowded baggage waggons and teams of oxen, all full ofdespair, impatience, anxiety and terror:--Behind, were the smokeof their burning villages, and the thunder of the hostileartillery;--before, the broad stream of the Loire, divided by a longlow island, also covered with the fugitives, --twenty frail barksplying in the stream--and, on the far banks, the disorderly movementsof those who had effected the passage, and were waiting there to berejoined by their companions. Such, Mad. De L. Assures us, was thetumult and terror of the scene, and so awful the recollections itinspired, that it can never be effaced from the memory of any ofthose who beheld it; and that many of its awe-struck spectators haveconcurred in stating, that it brought forcibly to their imaginationsthe unspeakable terrors of the great day of judgment. --_Edinb. Rev. No. LI. P. 24. _] It is said that when the Prince Talmont, with the royalists, crossedover from Saint Florent, under the fire of the republican troops whohad taken possession of the heights, they consisted of thirty thousandindividuals, but that there were not twenty thousand warriors; amongthem were five thousand women: arrived in the open country, withoutwarlike stores, they soon wanted provisions. This multitude createda famine wherever it went, and suffered a famine itself. The firstunsuccessful enterprize produced discouragement, and necessarily thedesertion of the army: it diminished two-thirds when it was repulsedat Angers; and when the chiefs, despairing (after the battle of Mans)of not being able to recross the Loire at Ancenis, led back the wrecksof the army to Savenay, it consisted only of fifteen thousand men, half dead with hunger and misery: the major part of these wereexterminated by the republicans; the rest dispersed themselves, andfrom that time all efforts ceased. Prince de Talmont was arrested nearErne, tried at Rennes, and executed at Laval: of the fate of Lescureand the other chiefs, a melancholy catalogue is furnished by Madame dela Roche-Jaquelin. The wind favoring us the day following, we sailed at break of day, andarrived at Angers at the close of a beautiful evening. The approach tothis town, in sailing up the river Mayenne, is highly picturesque; itsancient castle is situated on a high rock overhanging the river; itswalls and antique towers, built by the English, have an imposingeffect. The town stands in a plain, which, in the distance, beingfringed with wood, together with the corn and meadow ground, give itthat richness and beauty that characterizes the whole country betweenNantes and Angers. The river Mayenne, and a small branch of theLoire, divide the town. It is the chief seat of the province ofMaine-et-Loire, formerly the capital of Anjou. It is a large ancientcity, with a fine cathedral, a botanical garden, museum, andseveral manufactories of cottons; one of them in imitation of Indiahandkerchiefs. Here the last effort was made by the Vendeans, whoseflight from it was immediately followed by the bloody and disastrousaffair of Mans. I had now passed the provinces of Bretagne and Poitou, as they borderthe Loire; and, in point of beautiful and romantic scenery, thisdistrict can scarcely be surpassed. The left bank of the river, running along the country of Le Bocage, from Nantes to Angers, adistance of seventy-two miles, is a continued range of lofty hills, agreeably diversified with corn lands, and studded with vineyards. Theopposite bank is a more flat and variegated country, with pleasanteminences and broad plains, watered by branches of the Loire, which inmany parts contains small islands covered with trees. The whole courseof this fine river, as the eye sweeps and ranges over its banks, presents at almost every bend the view of villas enriched withgardens, orchards, and vineyards; castles, convents, and villages inruins! bearing innumerable evidences of the desolating war that hasdestroyed them. The religious communities, whose love of scenery and retirement ingeneral led them to prefer the most sequestered valleys, have in theseprovinces chosen the most elevated and picturesque spots for theerection of their monasteries; and these, notwithstanding theirdeserted and decaying state, prove the good taste of their ancientpossessors, and the skill and industry with which they embellishedthem. No situations could have been selected more abounding inpicturesque combinations of magnificent landscapes. The pleasure of the traveller in surveying such scenes, cannot but befrequently interrupted, by the recollection of the various atrocitieswhich the inhabitants of these fine provinces committed against eachother, and of the immense number of innocent victims that were drivenfrom their abode to perish by famine or the sword. CHAP. VIII. SAUMUR TO TOURS--TOURS--TOURS TO BLOIS--ORLEANS--AND ORLEANS TOPARIS. I hired a small carriage, called a _patache_, to convey me to Saumurand Tours; it is driven by a postillion with two horses, and is openin front, giving the traveller a better opportunity of viewing thecountry than in a close vehicle. The town of Saumur is built on both banks of the Loire, with ahandsome stone bridge over it; an ancient castle, built on a highrock, commands the whole town. The road from Angers to this place is ahigh raised causeway, paved, and runs parallel to the river, withina few paces of its banks, the whole distance. Here we entered intoTouraine from the province of Anjou. From Saumur to Tours, the roadis like the former. The river Loire is on the right hand, and a flatlevel country on the left, covered with orchards, groves, and meadows. The road is every where raised so high, that it forms a very steepdeclivity, with narrow pathways down to the entrance of the cottagesand villages, which are most romantically situated, --some in orchards, some amidst vineyards, some in gardens, and others in recesses peepingfrom between the trees. The fences are fantastically interwoven withwreaths of the vines, which frequently creep up the trunk of a pear ora cherry-tree, and cover the slated roofs of the houses, thereby, fromthe natural luxuriance and wildness of their spreading branches in thefruit season, answering at once the purposes of utility and ornament;for the slates, retaining the heat, ripen the grape sooner than anyother mode of training. The corn was now ripe, and added to theinterest and beauty of the scenes; in many of the fields the reaperswere at work, and the harvest (which happily for France had not beenso abundant for many years) was going on with the assistance of thefemale peasantry, who on all occasions partake and cheer the laboursof the field. Approaching nearer to Tours, I had a fine view of the bridge, which isesteemed the handsomest in France. Between the branches of the trees, I now and then caught a glimpse of the spires of the church andbuildings, encompassed by extensive orchards and groves, and openvales between, varied by vineyards. It was a _jour de fête_, and as Idrove through the town the streets were gay with holyday people, andcrowded in some places with groups of women and girls, whose cheerfulcountenances proved the admiration with which they viewed theperformances of some mountebanks. [12] Tours is the chief seat of thepréfecture of the Indre-et-Loire, formerly the capital of the provinceof Touraine, and is built on a plain on the bank of the Loire. Thehouses are of a white stone, and in the principal streets well builtand lofty: it is altogether one of the handsomest towns in France. Themain street, the rue Royale, can boast of a foot pavement, which isseldom to be met with in this country. The environs of the town arealso very beautiful; the luxuriance of the soil, abounding in vines, fruits, and every article of life, has attracted such numbers ofEnglish to its vicinity, that Tours may be almost considered anEnglish colony. [Footnote 12: There is no city in Europe where there are more ofthese sort of people to be seen than at Paris, on the boulevards anddifferent carrefours. The fondness of the Parisians for shows hasexisted for ages. In a tariff of Saint Lewis for regulating the dutiesupon the different articles brought into Paris by the gate of thelittle Châtelet, it is ordained, (Hist. LVIII. Cxxxiii. ) thatwhosoever fetches a monkey into the city for sale, shall pay fourdeniers; but if the monkey belongs to a merry-andrew, the merry-andrewshall be exempted from paying the duty, as well upon the said monkeyas on every thing else he carries along with him, by causing hismonkey to play and dance before the collector! Hence is derived theproverb "Payer en monnoie de singe, " i. E. To laugh at a man instead ofpaying him. By another article, it is specified, that jugglers shalllikewise be exempt from all imposts, provided they sing a couplet of asong before the toll-gatherer. ] Its ancient cathedral is in good preservation, notwithstanding itbecame a prey to the licentious fanaticism of the republicans. The hotel Saint Julien, where I resided during my stay, stands uponthe cloisters of an ancient abbey; and the church, with its fineGothic pillars, and chapels, remains a monument of those destructiveand desolating times! The side aisles are stalls for horses andcattle, and the centre is a _remise_ for carriages and the publicdiligences which run to this inn! The best hotel is the hotel duFaisan. The vast number of English who keep pouring into all thewestern provinces of this country, by degrees has affected themarkets, and will continue to do so, as long as the rage foremigration lasts. At Tours, every article is one third dearer than atNantes, and in proportion as the capital is approached every thingbecomes more expensive; yet notwithstanding this, living is, and mustever be, infinitely cheaper than in England. It certainly is no exaggeration to say, that France is richer in theproduction of fruits and vegetables than any country in Europe, for inno other can be found so many productions of the same climates of theearth, or a soil more naturally abundant. With the exception of someof the northern provinces, every part of France has wine, and theculture of that delicious fruit which produces it is mentioned in itsearliest records. By a happy distribution, those provinces which donot bear the vine, are abundantly supplied with other productions. Normandy and Bretagne abound in the finest fruits; Picardy, and theadjoining provinces, in corn. The riches of Lorraine are in its woods;Touraine has ever been famous for its plums and its pears. The banksof the Loire, and the valleys of Dauphiné, are celebrated for therichness of their verdure and vegetation; and the more southernprovinces of Languedoc and Provence, partake of the climate andproductions of Italy and Spain. Between Tours and Amboise, I passed the once celebrated Château ofChanteloup, formerly the property of the Duc de Choiseuil, now theresidence of the Comte de Chaptal, who became the purchaser when itwas sold as national property. At the distance of six miles from Blois, the road leads near enough toValençay to have a good view of its magnificent palace and grounds;this place, now belonging to M. De Talleyrand, Prince et Duc deBenevento, (one of the most extraordinary characters who have figuredso conspicuously during the present age, ) is the more interesting, from having been so long the place of confinement of Ferdinand thepresent King of Spain; and from whence our government tried toextricate him through the agency of Baron de Kolly, who lost his lifein the attempt. This singular transaction has appeared in all thepublic papers, but having had an opportunity of collecting theparticulars through a channel of undoubted authority, I consider it ananecdote of too interesting a nature, as connected with the subjectbefore me, not to insert it here. In 1810, our government laid a plan to liberate King Ferdinand VII. OfSpain, similar to the one which had already effected the escape ofthe Marquis de la Romana. The person entrusted with this commission, assumed the name of Baron de Kolly, and besides the necessary creditand credentials, he was furnished with the original letter, written byCharles IV. To George III. In 1802, notifying the marriage of his son, the Prince of the Asturias, and containing a marginal note from theMarquis W. . . . In corroboration of his mission. A small squadron wasalso sent to cruize off that part of the coast most contiguous toValençay, under the orders of Commodore C. . . . To be in readiness toreceive the royal fugitive. On a sudden the Baron de Kolly was seized, and the plan frustrated, but the real particulars were never knownuntil after the events of the campaign of 1815. In the course of the passage to St. Helena, Admiral C. . . . (whohad been entrusted with the project) expressed a wish to know ofBuonaparte, by what means de Kolly had been discovered and arrested, and the true circumstances of the affair so totally unknown inEngland, adding, that if no motive of state policy intervened, he wasanxious to hear the whole disclosure. Buonaparte readily consented, and told him that de Kolly arrived at Paris and lived in the greatestobscurity, dressed shabbily, and eating his meals only at cheaptraiteurs in the Fauxbourg St. Antoine. However, he was not satisfiedwith the common wine served up, and would ask for the best Bordeaux, for which he paid five francs per bottle. This contrast of poverty andluxury excited suspicions in the waiters of the two houses he thusfrequented, who being in the pay of the police, immediately sent in areport. De Kolly was watched, and soon afterwards seized with allhis papers. Buonaparte said he then procured a person, as nearlyresembling de Kolly as could be found, to carry on the Englishstratagem, under a hope that Ferdinand would have fallen into thetrap; and with all the original credentials, this agent of the Frenchpolice went into the castle of Valençay, under a pretext of sellingsome trinkets. Ferdinand however, said Buonaparte, was too great acoward to enter into the views proposed to him, but instantly gaveinformation of what had been communicated, to his first chamberlain, Amazada, in a letter written to the governor of the castle!--By thismeans Ferdinand escaped being placed at the mercy of Buonaparte, whoseintention was to intercept him in his flight. Although the conduct of Ferdinand was in this instance pusillanimousand cruel, it was next to an impossibility that he could haveeffected his escape. He was surrounded by guards and spies of everydescription, under the superintendence of M. Darberg, Auditor of theCouncil of State, and without whose leave no admittance could beobtained. Twenty-five horse gendarmes regularly mounted guard aboutthe castle, and every person found in its vicinity without a regularpassport, was confined and strictly examined. At a small distance, is the residence of Marshal Victor, Duc deBelluno, whom I met walking in the grounds. I was very civillypermitted to enter, on sending a message desiring permission, as atraveller, to see it. It stands at the entrance of the village ofMénard, and was once the favourite residence of Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of Louis XV. The river Loire winds beautifully beneaththe terrace. The grounds are of a vast extent, and tastefully laidout. Over the entrance, the workmen were then placing the arms of theMarshal, finely executed in stone. The country is thickly enclosed on each side of the river, varied withhill and dale, clothed with vineyards. The villages and small townsalong the banks, as far as Orléans, are numerous and invariablypicturesque. Nothing can be more beautiful than the natural festoonswhich are formed by the long shoots of the vines as they project overthe road. The peasants and the vignerons live in the midst of theirvineyards; their dwellings are excavations in chalky strata of thesolid rock, which afford them warm and dry habitations; some of themwere so covered with the vines that the entrance was scarcely visible, and the comparison of them to so many birds nests is not badlyimagined. The hedges were covered with wild thyme and rosemary; andthe clematis interwoven with honeysuckles and other fragrant flowers, richly perfumed the air. The grapes in Touraine and Orléanois are notabundant this year, but the wine that is expected to be made, will, it is supposed, from the dryness of the summer, be of an excellentquality. The town of Orléans is memorable for the siege it sustained againstthe English in 1428, when the maid of Orléans acquired so much renown, and whose barbarous execution at Rouen, cannot be remembered withoutfeelings of horror and indignation, and must ever remain a stain onthe memory of that brave soldier the Duke of Bedford. The transactionssubsequent to that event, led to the almost entire expulsion of theEnglish from France; and those glittering conquests which were anobject of more glory than interest, and had been purchased at such anexpense of blood and treasure, were from that time lost to the Englishnation. During the Revolution, the ancient statue of this celebrated femalewas taken down and unfortunately destroyed, and one more modern, butless interesting, finely executed in bronze, has been since erected. She is habited in armour, with a lance and shield, supposed tobe leading on the victorious troops. At the four angles, are theemblematical figures in relief, of the principal events of hersingular career. On a marble pedestal, is inscribed: A JEANNE D'ARC. Orléans is the chief seat of the department of the Loiret, formerlythe capital of Orléanais, on the river Loire, over which it has ahandsome bridge like the one at Tours, though not of such extent, asthe river here is not so wide, and very shallow. The communication bywater with Paris is carried on by means of a canal. The church is one of the finest specimens of Gothic architecture Ihave seen in France. The towers are of open fretwork, and in excellentpreservation. More cheerful scenes of exuberant fertility are nowhereto be met with than along the banks of the river, and in the countrysurrounding the town. From Orléans to Etampes, there is a plain of eighteen leagues inextent, the whole of which was covered with one entire tract of cornand vines; not an intervening hill or hillock; and the scene wasdoubly interesting from the harvest carrying on in every direction asI traversed it. Leaving Etampes, I passed through the beautiful villages of Sceaux, Bourg-la-Reine, and Fontenay-aux-Roses; the latter still contains theruins of the Palace of Colbert, the celebrated minister of Louis XIV. The village of Fontenay-aux-Roses, is situated in a valley six milesfrom Paris, and takes its name from the culture of roses, which coverlarge tracts of ground. The proprietors sell the flowers to thedistillers for making rose water and essences, and the flower marketis supplied with the choicest bouquets; it is likewise celebrated forits produce of the finest strawberries and peaches. The beauty of its situation, and the association of its name with thesweetest of flowers, has attracted many of the wealthy inhabitantsof the metropolis to reside in its vicinity, where they have summerhouses; among them is the Maire de Fontenay, Monsieur Ledru, whosehistory is singular and interesting. His father, who was very wealthy, and a great miser, sent for him onemorning, at the time he had just attained his eighteenth year, andsaid to him: "I began life at your age with half a crown; there is onefor you--go, and be as fortunate as I have been;"--saying which, heturned him out of the house, and shut the door in his face. Undismayed at such unexpected and unnatural conduct on the part of hisparent, whom he had never offended, the youth sought the advice andassistance of a friend, by whose opinion he applied himself to thestudy of medicine. After an indefatigable study at the Hotel Dieu, hebecame celebrated in his profession, and had the good fortune tobe employed by a lady of great wealth, whose life he saved. Out ofgratitude, she proposed to become his wife, and to settle upon him anincome of fifty thousand livres, that he might give up his medicalpursuits; which, having accepted, he rewarded her by an attention andkindness suitable to the noble generosity of her conduct. The revolution soon after occurred, and in the general wreck ofproperty she lost all her fortune, it having been invested, eitherin the funds, or public securities. It then became the turn of Mons. Ledru to support his wife, by renewing the practice of his profession, which soon placed them again in affluent circumstances. At the death of his father, who left an immense fortune to be dividedbetween Mons. Ledru and his two maiden sisters, he took possessionof the estate at Fontenay-aux-Roses, from whence he had been cruellybanished when a boy, and which the unkindness of his parent had neverafter permitted him to enter. Fortune, which had hitherto played awayward and capricious game with him, had not yet ceased her freaks. In removing a mirror from over a chimney-piece which required analteration, he discovered a prodigious treasure that had beenconcealed there by his father! With that generosity and noblenessof character, which make him esteemed and beloved by all hisacquaintance, and adored by the whole commune over which he presides, he instantly sent for his sisters and divided it with them. His wifedid not long survive this last event, and since her death he hascontinued to reside at Fontenay-aux-Roses with his sisters, wherehe exercises his authority with mildness; and by constant acts ofbeneficence and charity, is justly styled, "Le Père de Fontenay!" Between Fontenay-aux-Roses and Paris, to the right of the road, is thevillage of Gentilly, whose numerous guinguettes are much frequentedby the Parisians in fine weather. It being a holyday we met crowds ofwell dressed citizens, in all sorts of vehicles, driving towards it. An interesting circumstance had been related to me of the curé of thisvillage, M. Détruissart; and on asking permission to visit his ruralhabitation, I found the story to be true. His garden, which is notabove half an acre, has been laid out with such art and ingenuity, asto give an idea of considerable extent, and to add to the charms ofthis little spot, which he calls his "bonheur, " there are a variety ofinscriptions of his own composition; over an arbour of vines is thefollowing:-- MA SOLITUDE. Loin des méchans, du bruit, des tempêtes du monde, Sous un simple berceau dont la treille est féconde, Sous un modeste toît, dans de rians jardins, Dessinés, élevés, cultivés par mes mains. . . . C'est dans ces lieux chéris que s'écoule ma vie Dans une paix profonde, une tranquillité Qui sans cesse rappele à mon ame ravie Le temps de l'âge d'or et ma félicité: Mais, quelque doux qu'il soit, mon sort est peu de chose; Car enfin, après tout, je dois mourir bientôt! Ne ressemblons-nous pas à la feuille de rose Qui paroît un instant et qui sèche aussitôt! It was in the practice of the moral conveyed by these lines, and inthe pursuit of literature, and constant acts of charity, that Mons. Détruissart passed his life, which was rewarded by the esteem andaffection of all his parishioners, of which they gave a remarkableproof on the 4th of July, 1815, when the Prussian troops took post atGentilly, from whence they had driven the French the preceding eveninginto Paris. The poor curé, with many other of the inhabitants, sought refugein the capital, leaving his house at the mercy of the enemy, whocommenced plundering in all directions; the humble and modestappearance of M. Détruissart's cottage not attracting their notice, it remained untouched, when a single word from any of the inhabitantswould have devoted it to ruin; but such was their esteem for him, thatat his return he found every thing as he had left it. I entered Paris, leaving Bicêtre to my right, by the barrière d'Enfer, after one of the most agreeable and interesting journeys I everperformed. CHAP. IX. ENVIRONS OF PARIS--PERE LA CHAISE--CASTLE OF VINCENNES--AND CHATEAU OFST. GERMAIN--ITS FOREST AND VICINITY. Prior to the revolution, the French, like most other European nations, were in the practice of depositing their dead in churches andcemeteries within the most populous towns, in compliance with thoseprecepts of evangelical doctrine which recommend us unceasingly toreflect on death; and hence originated a custom which cannot but beattended with most pernicious consequences to health, when we reflectthat the decomposition of human bodies is productive of putridexhalations, and consequently pregnant with the causes of contagiousdisorders. It is indeed surprising that some regulations have nothitherto been adopted in England regarding the interment of the dead, from the example of other countries. In the year 1793, a decree was passed by the National Assembly, toprevent burying in churches, or in church-yards, within the city ofParis. Since which period, there have been three places selected inits immediate neighbourhood for that purpose--Montmartre, called "LeChamp du Repos"--Vaugirard, and Père La Chaise. Quitting the Boulevards, at the extremity of the Boulevards Neufs, eastward of the city, and passing through the Barrière d'Aulnay, Iarrived at the Père La Chaise. At the entrance, through large foldinggates, is a spacious court-yard, having at one angle the dwellingof the Concierge, or Keeper. The enclosure contains one hundred andtwenty acres, on a gently rising ground, in the centre of which standsthe ancient mansion constructed by Louis XIV. For his confessor, Pèrela Chaise, the celebrated Jesuit, who, with Madame de Maintenon, governed France. Rising above the thousands of tombs which surroundit, it displays itself a wrecked and mouldering monument of ancientsplendour, and the mutability of human affairs! This spot becameafterwards a place of public promenade and great resort, from thebeauty of its position overlooking all Paris; and though so oftenthe scene of festivity and pleasure, now presents to the eye of thebeholder a mournfully interesting sight of tombs and sarcophagi, intermixed with various fruit trees, cypress groves, the choicestflowers, and rarest shrubs. From the rising ground, above the building of Père La Chaise, a mostdelightful view displays itself. The city of Paris appears to standin the centre of a vast amphitheatre. The heights of Belleville, Montmartre, and Ménilmontant, in the west. To the east, the beautifulplain of Saint-Mandé, Montreuil, and Vincennes, with the lofty towersof its fortress. --The fertile banks of the river Marne, are on theNorth, and in the South, the horizon encircles Bicêtre and Meudon. The various tombs are placed without order or regularity: they aremostly enclosed with trellis work of wood, sometimes by iron railing;and consist of a small marble column, a pyramid, a sarcophagus, or asingle slab, just as may have suited the fancy or the taste of thefriends of the departed. --Some surrounded with cypress, some withroses, myrtles, and the choicest exotics; others with evergreens, andnot unfrequently a single weeping willow, with the addition of a rosetree! This intermixture of the sweetest scented flowers and fruit trees, ina burying ground, among the finest pieces of sculptured marble, withevergreens growing over them, in the form of arbours, and furnishedwith seats, cannot fail to produce in the mind of the person who viewsit for the first time, peculiar and uncommon feelings of domesticmelancholy, mingled with pleasing tenderness. Who could be otherwise than powerfully affected, as I was, by thefirst objects that presented themselves to me on entering theplace?--A mother and her two sons, kneeling in pious devotion at thefoot of the husband's and the father's grave! At a short distance, afemale of elegant form, watering and dressing the earth around someplants at her lover's tomb!--not a day, and seldom an hour, passes, but some one is seen either weeping over the remains of a departedrelative, or watching with pious solicitude the flowers that spring uparound it. Among the many interesting objects that presented themselves at myfirst visit, was the tomb of Abélard and Héloïse, which had not longsince been removed from the convent of the Augustins, where I had seenit in 1815. At a little distance, to the left of the former, was the burial placeof Labédoyère. The fate of this brave and unfortunate officer is wellknown; his youth, and misled zeal, have procured him a sympathy whichhis fellow sufferer Marshal Ney did not find, and did not merit. In the centre of a square plot of ground enclosed with lattice work, is erected a wooden cross, painted black. Neither marble, nor stone, nor letters, indicate his name. Two pots of roses, and a tuft ofviolets, alone marked the spot, which is carefully weeded. There issomething more affecting in all this simplicity, something, in mymind, that goes more directly home to the heart, than in the mostsplendid monument or the most studied eulogium. As we came suddenly upwe saw two females clad in deep mourning, weeping over it; at eacharm of the cross was suspended a garland of flowers; we were about toretire again immediately, from the fear of disturbing their melancholydevotions, when the concierge, with a brutality indescribable, rushedforward, and removing the garlands, threw them among the shrubs at aconsiderable distance. The friend who accompanied me, after searching, recovered one of the garlands, and with more gallantry perhaps thanpolicy, immediately replaced it, and reproaching the keeper with hisunmanly conduct, vowed vengeance if he dared to interrupt the ladies, again, when bowing to them we retired. As we were about to quit the place some time after, we were arrestedby two gendarmes, and it was not till after a detention of somehours, and a long discussion between the police officers who hadbeen summoned to attend, and being threatened to be sent to theConciergerie prison, that we were allowed to depart. The following words were engraved on a plain marble slab that coveredthe remains of Marshal Ney. CI GIT LE MARÉCHAL NEY DUC D'ECHLINGEN PRINCE DE MOSCOWA DÉCÉDÉ le 7, Decembre, 1815. The grave of the Marshal, as well as that of Labédoyère, when I againvisited the spot, had been stripped of every thing, and the railingaround them removed so as to prevent any one from discovering theplace of their interment. The monument of Madame Cottin, the author of Elizabeth and ofMathilde, is, like her writings, simple and affecting!-Surrounded by atrellis work in the form of an arbour, planted with rose trees, standsa pillar of the whitest marble, highly polished, inclining forwards, and engraved with: ICI REPOSE Marie-Sophie Risteav Veuve de J. M. Cottin Décédée le 25 Août. 1815. Near this is the tomb of the esteemed and celebrated poet Delille, the"Songster of the Gardens, " as the French term him. The monument isenclosed in a small garden, planted with the choicest flowers andshrubs: it is of white marble, of large dimensions, and approachedby an _allée verte_. The door leading to the vault is of brass, withemblematical figures in relief: above the entrance is inscribed inletters of gold. JACQVES-DELILLE. The linden tree, intermixed with various evergreens, form aninteresting and beautiful bouquet around it. Beyond this, to the right, are the tombs of Grétry the composer, Fourcroy the great chemist, Fontenelle, Boileau, Racine, and ofMademoiselle Raucourt, the celebrated actress, to whom the bigotryof the clergy refused burial in consecrated ground in 1815! acircumstance which gave rise to much clamour and dissatisfaction. Itis surprising, that after such events as have been experienced inFrance, the folly of denying the right of consecrated ground to acomedian should have been persevered in, _after the restoration_ ofLouis XVIII! Close to the tomb of Mad'lle Raucourt, is one, which for its affectingsimplicity and modesty, struck me very forcibly: in a little garden ofroses and lilies, and amidst some tufts of mignonette which appearedto have been newly watered, stood a plain marble column, with thewords as represented in the annexed sketch--an accacia shaded it fromthe sun's rays. In 1814, when the Allies approached Paris, thisheight, like the others commanding the capital, was fortified, and occupied by the students of the Polytechnical School, who defended it with great gallantry. The walls were perforated withholes for the musketry: the marks are still visible where they havebeen since filled up. On the 30th of March, 1814, this positionwas vigorously attacked, with great slaughter on both sides: theassailants and the assailed fell in heaps, and it was not untilthe chief part of a Prussian corps, (that afterwards carried it byassault) had been annihilated, that the brave youths gave way. [Illustration] The tomb of my early friend and brother officer, the brave andunfortunate Captain Wright, who was murdered in the Temple, is inthe cemetery of Vaugirard. I had searched for it in vain at Père laChaise, where it was reported he had been buried. It has on it thefollowing inscription, written to his memory by his companion in arms, and in imprisonment, the gallant Sir Sidney Smith: HERE LIES INHUMED JOHN WESLEY WRIGHT, BY BIRTH AN ENGLISHMAN, CAPTAIN IN THE BRITISH NAVY Distinguished both among his own Countrymen and Foreigners For skill and courage; To whom, Of those things which lead to the summit of glory, Nothing was wanting but opportunity: His ancestors, whose virtues he inherited, He honoured by his deeds. Quick in apprehending his orders, Active and bold in the execution of them; In success modest, In adverse circumstances firm, In doubtful enterprises, wise and prudent. Awhile successful in his career; At length assailed by adverse winds, and on an hostile shore, He was captured; And being soon after brought to Paris, Was confined in the prison called the Temple, _Infamous for midnight murders_, And placed in the most rigid custody: But in bonds, And suffering severities still more oppressive, His fortitude of mind and fidelity to his country Remained unshaken. A short time after, He was found in the morning with his throat cut. And dead in his bed: He died the 28th October, 1805, aged 36. To be lamented by his Country, Avenged by his God! THE DONJON, OR CASTLE OF VINCENNES. This ancient fortress is situate at the entrance of the forest ofVincennes, (now reduced to a wood of small trees, the large timberhaving been cut down during the revolution) and surrounded by a deepditch of great width, about two miles from the Barrière du Trône. During many ages, it had been the casual residence of the sovereignsof France. Philip de Valois added considerably to its dimensions in1337. John continued the works, and during his captivity in England, Charles his son, then regent of the kingdom, finished it. During the reign of Charles VII. In 1422, Henry VI. Of England died inthis castle. From this time Vincennes became a royal residence, untilthe reign of Louis XIV. When that monarch fixed himself at Versailles, from which period it has never been used but as a prison[13]. [Footnote 13: Monstrelet relates a curious anecdote, during theresidence at the Castle of Vincennes of Isabeau de Bavière, stronglyillustrative of the barbarous manners of those times. "Lewis deBourbon, who was handsome and well made, and had signalized himselfupon various occasions, and amongst others at the battle of Agincourt, going one night, as was customary, to visit the Queen, Isabeau deBavière, at the Castle of Vincennes, met the King (Charles VI. ); hesaluted him, without either stopping or alighting from his horse, but continued galloping on. The King having recollected him, orderedTangui du Chatel, prévost of Paris, to pursue, and to confine him inprison. At night the _question_ was applied, and he was afterwardstied up in a sack and cast into the Seine, with this inscription uponthe sack, 'Let the King's justice take place. '"] Dulaure, a French writer, in speaking of the persons who were confinedhere, observes, it would be difficult to enumerate the number ofindividuals that have been shut up in this prison within these fewyears. "We will merely notice, " he says, "the celebrated CountMirabeau, who was confined from 1777 to 1780; here it was that hetranslated his Tibulle, and Joannes Secundus, and wrote his 'Lettresoriginales' to his mistress, Madame Lemonnier, which abound withpassages as affecting as the letters of Héloïse". This prison was thrown open during the reign of the unfortunate LouisXVI. By the Baron de Breteuil, Minister of the Department of Parisin 1784. In going over it, every one was penetrated with horror; andfeelings of the most melancholy interest were excited by reading thevarious inscriptions on the walls, indicative of the hopeless miserythat had been experienced within them! Many were expressive of pietyand resignation at the approach of death!--others complaining of thecruel oppression which had immured them! On one wall was written, "Ilfaut mourir, mon frere; mon frere il faut mourir, quand il plaira àDieu". On the door of another prison were, "Beati qui persecutionempatiuntur propter justitiam, quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum". Onthe same spot were, "Carcer Socratis, templum honoris". This Donjon remained unoccupied until 1791. At this period, theprisons of the capital being filled with criminals, Government orderedit to be prepared for the reception of that class of prisoners; but onthe massacres that followed, the mob either murdered or released themall, after a bloody contest, and it remained again without prisonersuntil the Imperial Government under Buonaparte. It was then garrisonedby a detachment of the Imperial Guard, and multitudes of victims weretransferred there whose fate remains, and probably ever will remain, unknown. It was to this place that the Duke D'Enghien, who was arrested the15th March, 1804, at Ettenheim, in the Electorate of Baden, wasconducted the 20th of the same month, at five in the evening, andcondemned to death the night following, by a military commission, atwhich Murat presided. He was accordingly shot on the 21st, at halfpast four in the evening, in the ditch of the castle which lookstowards the forest, on the north side, and his body thrown into agrave, ready dug to receive it, where he fell. The details of thiscruel and wanton act of barbarity are too well known to need anyrepetition here. This spot is now marked by a wooden cross, enclosed by an ironrailing. The remains of the Prince were dug out on the 20th March, 1816, by order of Louis XVIII. And deposited with solemn funeralceremony in a coffin which is placed in the same apartment where thecouncil of war condemned him to suffer! since transformed info achapel. Under a cenotaph, covered with a cloth of gold, is placed thecoffin, with a prodigious large stone lying on it, the same that wasfound lying on his head, and which from its weight had crushed hisskull! The apartment is hung with black cloth, and remains continuallylighted, with a guard placed over it. Mass is daily performed for therepose of his soul, agreeable to the Catholic religion. On the lid of the coffin is the following inscription: Ici est Le Corps De Très-Haut, Très-Puissant Prince Louis-Antoine-Henri De Bourbon Duc D'Enghien, Prince du Sang Pair de France Mort A Vincennes, Le 21 Mars 1804 A L'age de XXXI Ans VII mois XVIII Jours. A marble bust of the Prince, by Bosio, is placed at the entrance. During the periods of 1814 and 1815, when Paris was in possessionof the Allies, Vincennes continued under the command of GeneralDaumesnil, who declared that he held it for his country until theGovernment was settled, and would not open its gates to a foreignarmy. It was not attacked either of the times. It is approached by two gates, with drawbridges, and defended bycannon on all sides. The fossé is of great depth, and dry, extending, I should suppose, nearly a quarter of a mile. It has nine towers, ofprodigious height and solidity: the largest, at the south westernangle, called the Donjon, is considerably more elevated than theothers. The principal entrance is fronting the forest, on the northside, in the form of a triumphal arch, with six pillars, ornamentedin bas-reliefs, and was decorated with marble statues, which weredestroyed when it was seized by the mob. The Donjon is surrounded by a separate ditch, within the other, offorty feet depth, and is approached by two draw-bridges; one forcarriages, the other for foot passengers; and the main tower isflanked by four other angular ones, each having a high turret. Thewindows are treble barred within and without, so as to admit but afaint glimmering light! Three gates of great solidity are to be passedat the entrance; that which communicates with the draw-bridge of thecastle is secured both within and without. After passing the threegates, there is a court, in the middle of which stands the Donjon. Three other immense gates guard its entrance! The form of the Donjon is a square. The towers at the four angles aredivided into five floors, each having a separate stair-case, andeach floor is vaulted, with an apartment in the centre, sustainedby pillars, which are chimneys. At each of the four corners of theapartment in the centre is a cell thirteen feet square. The towers areencompassed on the third story by a large gallery on the outside, andon the top of each there is a small circular terrace. Such is thestrength and prodigious solidity of this building, that it is said tobe capable of resisting the heaviest cannon, and is bomb proof. Thehand of time appears not to have made any impression on its outwardsurface. The first hall is called "La chambre de la question:" its nameindicates sufficiently the horrid purposes to which it wasappropriated! So late as the year 1790 were to be seen chairs formedof stone, where the unhappy victims were seated, with iron collarsfixed to the wall by heavy chains, that confined them to the spotwhile undergoing the torture! In these prisons, deprived of air andlight, were beds of timber, on which they were allowed to reposeduring the interval of their sufferings. The upper floor, named "La salle du conseil, " from the Kings holdingtheir council there, while it was a royal residence, is secured by adoor of great solidity, and each prison at the angles had three doorscovered with iron plates, with double locks and treble bolts. Thedoors were so contrived as to open crossways, each serving as asecurity to the other. The first acted as a bar to the second, andthis to the third, so that it was necessary to close one before theother could be opened. --Such was the mode of confinement in thisprison, the walls of which are sixteen feet thick, and the archesthirty feet high. The other eight towers were also prisons. The one called "La tour dela surintendance" contains cells six feet square; the bed places areof stone. There is a square hole to descend into the vaults beneath, where, like a tomb, the miserable prisoner was immured for ever!!!Often, alas! for imaginary crimes, or for causes which make us shudderat their wantonness and barbarity, an unfortunate victim has been tornfrom the bosom of his family, to perish unheard of and unknown! The French Government have, I understand, issued an order to preventany one from entering this place from motives of curiosity; and let ushope that the humane and enlightened policy of the restored Monarchwill close its cells for ever! The following beautiful lines, with which I close an account of themost horribly interesting spot I ever visited, are from the pen ofDelille: ". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Voyez gémir en proie à sa longue torture, Ce mortel confiné dans sa noire clôture. Pour unique plaisir et pour seul passe-temps, De sa lente journée il compte les instans, Ou de son noir cachot mesure l'étendue, Ou médite en secret sa fuite inattendue; Ou, de ceux qu'avant lui renferma la prison, Lit, sur ces tristes murs, la complainte et le nom: Et lui-même y traçant sa douloureuse histoire, A ceux qui le suivront en transmet la mémoire. C'est peu d'être enchaîné dans ces tristes tombeaux, Combien de souvenirs viennent aigrir ses maux! Hélas! tandis qu'auprès de leurs jeunes compagnes; Dans les riches cités, dans les vastes campagnes; Ses amis d'autrefois errent en liberté, Lorsque l'heure propice à la société, Reconduit chaque soir la jeunesse folâtre Aux entretiens joyeux, à la danse, au théâtre, Ou, d'un plaisir plus doux annonçant le retour, Du moment fortuné vient avertir l'amour, Il est seul; . . . En un long et lugubre silence, Pour lui le jour s'achêve, et le jour recommence; Il n'entend point l'accent de la tendre amitié, Il ne voit point les pleurs de la douce pitié: N'ayant de mouvement que pour traîner des chânes, Un coeur que pour l'ennui, des sens que pour les peines, Pour lui, plus de beaux jours, de ruisseau, de gazon; Cette vôute est son ciel, ces murs son horizon, Son regard, élevé vers les flambeaux célestes, Vient mourir dans la nuit de ses cachots funestes; Rien n'égaie à ses yeux leur morne obscurité; Ou si, par des barreaux avares de clarté, Un faible jour se glisse en ces antres funêbres, Il redouble pour lui les horreurs des ténêbres, Et, le coeur consumé d'un regret sans espoir, Il cherche la lumière et gémit de la voir. " DELILLE. CHATEAU DE SAINT GERMAIN. This ancient pile of building is now a barrack for the King's Gardesdu Corps, containing two troops, one of Luxembourg, and the other ofGrammont, which are relieved every three months. It is supposed to have been built in the reign of Robert, but thereappears to be no certainty as to the exact period. It is interestingto the English traveller, from having been the last refuge of Jamesthe Second of England, and the residence, at various times, of verycelebrated and distinguished characters. It was taken, and pillaged, and partly burnt, during the reign of Philip VI, in 1346, by Edwardthe Third, and again by the English in 1419, and rebuilt by Francisthe First. During the war of the League in 1574, Catherine de Medicisretired to this Castle, but from the predictions of an astrologer, that she would die there, quitted it shortly after, and returned tothe Tuilleries, which Palace she had founded. [14] Henry the Fourthoften frequented Saint Germain. The Château Neuf, and one of thetowers, called Le Pavilion de Gabrielle, which is still in goodpreservation, were erected by him, close to the Castle, for theresidence of his favourite, La belle Gabrielle:[15] and the superbterrace was begun in his reign. From this spot the view is veryinteresting and extensive: nothing can surpass the admirableassemblage of hills, meadows, gardens, and vineyards, which charm theeye, and which as they are viewed from its different points on a clearsummer's evening, appear at every turn, in new beauty, and endlessvariety. [Footnote 14: According to Mezeray, this palace had its name from thespot whereon it is situated, which was called Les Tuilleries, becausetiles (des tuiles) were made here. Catherine de Medicis built it 1564. It consisted of nothing but the large square pavilion in the middle, the two wings, and the two pavilions which terminate the wings. HenryIV. Louis XIII. And Louis XIV. Afterwards extended, elevated, andembellished it. It is said to be neither so well proportioned, sobeautiful, or so regular, as it was at first. The Tuilleries is, nevertheless, a very splendid palace. An astrologer having predictedto Catherine de Medicis, that she would die near St. Germain, sheimmediately flew, in a most superstitious manner, from all placesand churches that bore this name; she no more resorted to St. Germain-en-Laye, and because her palace of the Tuilleries was situatedin the parish of Saint Germain l'Auxerrois, she was at the expense ofbuilding another, which was the Hotel de Soissons, near the churchof St. Eustache. When it was known to be Laurence de Saint Germain, Bishop of Nazareth, who had attended her upon her death-bed, peopleinfatuated with astrology averred that the prediction had beenaccomplished. ] [Footnote 15: Henri IV se plaisait beaucoup à Saint-Germain, et y vintsouvent, quand son coeur fut épris des charmes de la belle Gabrielle. Ce prince galant et libéral, qui déjà lui avait prouvé son amour parle don d'une infinité de maisons de campagne, aux environs de Paris, voulut encore lui donner une preuve de sa tendresse, en bâtissant pourelle, à deux cents toises de l'ancien château, une nouvelle et bellehabitation, qu'on appela le Château Neuf. Elevé sur les dessinsde l'architecte Marchand, il était surtout remarquable par sonarchitecture simple, ses nombreuses devises, les chiffres amoureuxet les emblèmes allégoriques qui le décoroient, et qui faisoient uneingénieuse allusion à la passion du monarque pour sa mâitresse. L'une des ailes de ce château s'appelait même le Pavillon deGabrielle. --_Hist. Topo. Des Environs de Paris_. ] The City of Paris is seen in the distance. The fine aqueduct of Marly, the mountain de Coeur volant, Mount Calvary, [16] and Malmaison to theright; in front the forest of Vésinet, and beyond it the vale of SaintDenis; on the left the hills which encompass the beautiful vale ofMontmorency; the Seine winding at the foot, and extending its courseuntil it loses itself in the distance--all within one sweep of theeye!--Such is the enchanting prospect which presents itself. It was at different times the residence of Louis XIII. [17] of Anne ofAustria, Christiana of Sweden, and of Madame La Valière, when Madamede Montespan rivalled her in the affections of Louis XIV. After theformer had retired to the Convent of the Carmelites at Paris, it wasassigned in 1689 to the unfortunate James the Second, whose bigotryhad driven him from the throne of England. Here, together with hisQueen, and those of his court who fled with him to seek an asylum inFrance, and surrounded by those priests and monks, whose perniciouscouncils had led to his fall, the unhappy James remained until hisdeath, the 16th Sept. 1701. The apartment in which he breathed hislast is still preserved; but the whole of the interior has been verymuch neglected. It served as a quarter for a body of Prussians in1815, and the following year was a barrack for the English troopsquartered at St. Germain. A French poet of his time wrote these linesdescriptive of the life he led in his retirement. "C'est ici que Jacques second, Sans Ministres et sans maîtresse, Le matin allait à la Messe, Et le soir allait au sermon". [Footnote 16: On the top of this height is the Pavilion de Lucienne, built by Madame Dubarry, Mistress to Louis XV. Afterwards the propertyof Madame La Princesse de Conti, now the residence of M. De Puy: atthe foot is the village of Lucienne, surrounded by numerous villas:among the most remarkable is the residence of General Comte Campon. ] [Footnote 17: Lewis XIV. Would not reside here, because the steeplesof the Abbey of St. Denis, where he was to be interred, could beseen from the Château. The amount of the immense treasure which theconsequent erection of the Palace of Versailles cost was never known, the King Mary Stewart, daughter of James, died here in April 1712, andhis Queen, in May 1718. These were the last persons of any consequencewho inhabited this palace, which in its exterior still preserves allits ancient appearance of grandeur. It is built of stone, with afacing of red brick, the windows are of great height, and the whole issurrounded by a deep ditch, forming a very striking contrast to thebuildings of the present age, having destroyed the bills with hisown hand. In the neighbourhood of Versailles stands the celebratedMilitary School of St. Cyr, which was originally an establishment forthe gratuitous admission of two hundred and fifty young ladiesof rank, who were to receive an education correspondent to theirsituation in life. Madame de Maintenon is buried in the Chapel of theConvent. ] FOREST OF SAINT GERMAIN. This forest is enclosed by a wall of thirty miles in circumference, according to M. Prudhomme. It is now preserved exclusively for the Ducde Berri, who is the Ranger. Of all the ancient forests with which Paris is surrounded, this is themost extensive. It is stocked with prodigious quantities of game, withdeer, and wild boar. The pheasants and partridges are reared in anextensive _faisanderie_, in the centre of the forest, enclosed by ahigh wall, and such vigilance is exercised by the keepers, that noperson can possibly destroy the game. It is guarded by a captain andtwo lieutenants, who have under them a corps of gardes de chasse. The royal chace is, at the commencement of the season, quite a stateceremony, at which all the royal family and the court assemble to bespectators. The dress of the hunt is green and gold, with gold lacedcocked hats and swords. The Duke invites his party, and gives thempermission to wear the uniform, which is considered a high honour. Nothing can be more delightful than the walks and rides through thisforest; the roads are kept in the best possible state. At intervalsare large open spaces called Etoiles, from whence branch off sometimesten and twelve roads with direction posts, each bearing a separatename, either from some memorable event, or remarkable person; as thecroix de Poissy, croix de la Pucelle, croix de Montchevreuil, croix deBerri, and croix de Noailles, &c. &c. A story is related of a lamentable occurrence which took place the 7thJune 1812, at the Etoile des Marres, and a similar one happened inAugust this year, near the same spot. The first of these events was occasioned by the parents of a younglady having refused their consent to her being married to her lover, whose want of fortune was the chief obstacle. The lovers, in despair, came to the fatal resolution of putting a period to their lives, andthis forest was fixed upon as the spot for the dreadful deed! Havingpartaken of a repast which they had brought with them, and swornto love each other (if it were permitted them) after death, theydischarged, at the same moment, their pistols at themselves. Theunhappy girl fell dead, but the hand of her lover having missed itsaim, he was only wounded. Having no other means left of accomplishinghis dreadful purpose, he took the handkerchief from her bosom andsuspended himself by it to a tree. In this state they were discovered, and their bodies deposited in the same grave! The other circumstancewas of the same romantic and melancholy nature. [18] This forestsupplies Paris with great quantities of wood. In 1814, and in 1815, the palisades that were made to surround Paris for its defence againstthe Allied armies, were cut in this wood, and the large timber hasconsequently been greatly thinned. [Footnote 18: There never was known in this country so many fatalinstances of suicide as at the present period; few days pass overwithout some persons throwing themselves out of their windows, or intothe river Seine; and among the disappointed partizans of the lateruler, it has been usual to hurl themselves from the top of the columnin the Place Vendôme, which has been shut up in consequence by anorder from Government. Among the instances of deliberate self-destruction, the following is aremarkable fact, inasmuch as it serves to prove the pernicious effectsof the writings of Voltaire and Rousseau in the minds of youth, whenat an age incapable of discriminating between fanaticism and realpiety! The person in question was a youth not turned sixteen, who destroyedhimself last summer, while at college, and who left the followingpaper as his last will. The lady who gave it me copied it from theoriginal. "Testament de Villemain. "Samedi. July 6th, 1816. "Je donne mon corps aux Pédants: je lègue mon âme aux manes de Voltaire et de J. J. Rousseau, qui m'ont appris à mépriser toutes les vaines superstitions de ce monde, et tous les vains préjugés qu'a enfantés la grossièreté des hommes, et surtout les subtiles noirceurs des fourbes de Prêtres. "J'ai toujours reconnu un Etre suprême, et ma religion a toujours été la religion naturelle. "Quant à mes biens terrestres, je donne: (Here he mentions various articles to his favorite school-fellows). "A Mondésir, mon dernier soupir. "J'ai toujours connu, je l'ai dit plus haut, reconnu un Etre suprême, j'ai toujours pensé que la seul religion digne de lui, etait la vertu et la probîté! "J'ose dire que je m'en suis rarement écarté malgré la faiblesse, et la fragilité humaine. "Je parois devant l'Etre suprême en disant avec Voltaire: 'Un Bonze, honnête homme, un Dervis, charitable, trouveront plutôt grâce à ses yeux, qu'un Pontife ambitieux. '" Then follows a Latin quotation, "All things are due to death, and without delay, sooner or later, hasten to the same goal: Hither we all tend: This is our last asylum". "De tout les Pédants qui m'ont le plus tourmenté je compte surtout Poir, son Jeannes et Veissier, qui sont la cause du vol que je fais à la nature en tranchant moi même le fil de mes jours; je leur pardonne, l'équité le fait aussi: Je n'ai cessé de répéter avec Rousseau avant de mourir. 'Tu veux cesser de vivre, sais-tu si tu as commencé. ' "Adieu!!! Mortels et foiblesses! VILLEMAIN". ] Here conclude my notes, and if my reader has condescended to accompanyme through my little Tour without feeling fatigue or displeasureat his "Compagnon de Voyage, " my aim and ambition as an author aresatisfied--so wishing that all the journeys he may ever take, mayprove as delightful to him as this has been to me, I sincerely thankhim for his attention, and kindly bid him Farewell! FINIS.