GRESSET.--_Careme impromptu._

[Illustration: 25. Abbey of St. Mathieu.]

We now reached the Abbey of St. Mathieu, situated on the extreme point of
Brittany and of France, on the top of a promontory, well called Finistere.
Here in the sixth century was built a monastery in honour of St. Matthew
the Evangelist, whose head had been stolen in Egypt by some Breton
navigators, and been brought to land at this point, which long bore the
name of "St. Mathieu de fin de terre" (Finistere). In the twelfth century
the monastery was converted into a Benedictine abbey, which is a beautiful
example of the Early English style. The formidable rocks at its feet are
called Les Moines. The monks of St. Mathieu kept a beacon for the safety
of mariners on these dangerous shores. The modern lighthouse quite masks
the sight of the abbey, and is a great disfigurement to the view, which,
in other respects, is most grand; the imposing granite ruins of the abbey
church on the very edge of these weather-beaten cliffs, worn and torn by
the ocean with its unwearied waves; on the right, the reefs of the Passage
du Four, which appear to unite the islands of Ouessant and its satellites
to St. Mathieu; on the left the elongated point of the Bec du Raz, which
no one, according to the Bretons, ever passed without grief and suffering.
In sight of Saint Mathieu, the English in 1504, with eighty ships,
attacked Herve de Porzmoguer, a Breton captain, with only twenty. His own
ship the 'Cordeliere,' which had been built and fitted out by Anne of
Bretagne, at her own expense, took fire; it held 1200 troops besides the
ship's company. Porzmoguer grappled the 'Cordeliere' to the ship of the
English admiral, the 'Great Harry;' and both vessels, driven by the
north-west wind to the entrance of the Goulet, were burned together, and
above 2000 men perished in the two ships. Porzmoguer mounted the mast
followed by the raging flames, and cast himself from the main-top, in full
armour, into the sea.

In 1597, the fleet sent by Philip II. to take possession of Brittany for
Spain was dispersed in a storm off Point St. Mathieu, and, out of a
hundred and twenty ships, scarcely one remained.

On our way home, we passed a little town called La Trinite, from three
springs all issuing from the same fountain, at which washerwomen with
their wooden bats were hard at work, beating the clothes to rags on the
stones.

[Illustration: 26. Peasant Girl of Ouessant.]