vre,
a village on a height, which has a manufactory for glass. I did
not stop to view it, having several leagues to go through a wooded
country. Soon after crossing the main road leading into Bretagne,
we rode by the side of cultivated lands and orchards resembling the
western parts of Devonshire, of which the narrow lanes and high hedges
reminded me very much, until we entered the forest leading to the
Val-Dieu. Between eight and nine in the evening we came to the edge
bounding that part of the Vale by which it is approached, in the
direction we had taken. It was very considerably out of our way, owing
to the guide having mistaken his road and turned to the left instead
of the right. After resting a few minutes on the brow of the hill, we
began our descent by a steep and narrow pathway. When we were midway
down the glen, the ruins of the ancient Chartreuse suddenly burst upon
the view! At this moment all the terrors of the declivity, and the
momentary expectation of meeting some of the wolves with which the
forest abounds, vanished from my mind before the feelings of delight
which the enchanting scene called forth. The almost perpendicular view
of the Vale beneath, had an effect tremendous yet pleasing: on the
left was a lake, seeming to encircle an ancient convent embosomed in
a wood; a thick forest covered the surrounding heights, and before me
stood the remains of the ancient Priory, with its gateway and lodge so
perfect 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 experienced
during my journey. It was a sweet evening, and the rich tints of the
departing sun-beams among the woods, with the solitary calmness of the
scenery around, were circumstances that made a strong impression on my
feelings. Those who have never traversed the forests of this country
can form but a very imperfect idea of what they are, or of the
death-like awful stillness that reigns within them; for many miles
together they form a dense shade, which, like a dark awning,
completely conceals the sun from the view: even on the brightest day
the sun's rays are only visible as from the bottom of a deep well! The
forests in Le Perche are reckoned the most extensive in France, and
every where abound with vast quantities of game.

I was received on alighting from my horse by a M. Boderie, a
good humoured hospitable man, who,