A Visit to the Monastery of La Trappe in 1817 Part 3

"Being descended from the Kings of France, he became the heir to that Kingdom; but as he was educated a Protestant, his claim was resisted.

He early distinguished himself by feats of arms. After the peace of Saint Germain, in 1570, he was taken to the French Court, and two years afterwards married Margaret, sister of Charles IX. (At the rejoicings on this occasion the infamous ma.s.sacre of _La Saint Barthelemy_ took place.) In 1589 he succeeded to the throne of France; but his religion proving an obstacle to his coronation, he consented to abjure it in 1593. In 1598 he issued the edict of Nantes, granting toleration to the Protestants".

Mezeray, speaking of the marriage of the King of Navarre (afterwards Henry IV.) with Margaret de Valois, says, "There were many diversions, tournaments, and ballets at Court; and amongst others, one which seemed to presage the calamity that was so near bursting out upon the Huguenots--the King and his brothers defending Paradise against the King of Navarre and his brothers, who were repulsed and banished to h.e.l.l;" and Sainte Foix, in his relation of the horrible ma.s.sacre, gives a detail, which in the present age appears almost incredible.

Catherine of Medicis, whose abominable politics had corrupted the disposition of her son, was at the head of the cabinet council who agreed to the murder of more than one hundred thousand Protestants; and the miserable bigot Charles IX. stationed during the ma.s.sacre at the 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 Erdre runs northward of the city, and forms a beautiful feature, winding for many miles among cultivated fields and woodlands, through a country agreeably diversified with villas, to which the wealthier inhabitants retire during the summer months. The river resembles a lake for the greater part of its course, and is called the Barban.

The Gothic church of Saint Pierre, built by the English in 1434, is a fine old structure: having been much neglected for many years, and greatly defaced during the Revolution, it was at this time restoring.

Among the monuments about to be replaced, was an excellent one of Anne de Bretagne, whose effigy, and that of her husband, are as large as life. The allegorical figures of Justice, Temperance, Prudence, and Fort.i.tude, the twelve Apostles, and the supporters to the Arms (a greyhound and a lion), are all executed in the finest white marble.

They were hidden during the Revolution, and have only very lately been discovered, as have also some capital paintings piously preserved for the Church. Anne was first married to Charles VIII. in 1499, and afterwards to Louis XII. She died at the Chateau de Blois in 1514, and Louis in 1515.

The climate of Nantes is mild, and reckoned remarkably healthy: every article of life is cheap, and from its mild temperature it abounds in the finest fruits and most excellent wines. Its population is estimated at 60,000 inhabitants. The numbers that were destroyed during the Revolution, or, as the French emphatically term it, "Le regne de la Terreur," were never ascertained; but the frightful history of that b.l.o.o.d.y period would probably justify the computation at half the number of its present population, many having fallen victims to the murders that were termed "_Noyades_," independent of those who perished in the Vendean war.

The spot where the gallant Charette was shot, with several other leaders of the Vendean army, is shown; and in the cemetery, a large mound of earth marks the place where the bodies were thrown in, at the time of the "_Fuzillades_" when the infamous Carrier presided at the execution of the brave Royalists.[7] The print beneath represents this monster on the banks of the Loire directing the Noyades.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Footnote 7: Chaque nuit on venait en prendre par centaines, pour les mettre sur les bateaux. La on liait les malheureux deux a deux, et on les poussait dans l'eau a coups de baonette. On saisissait indistinctement tout ce qui se trouvait a l'entrepot, tellement qu'on noya un jour l'etat major d'une corvette Anglaise, qui etait prisonnier de guerre. Une autre fois, Carrier, voulant donner un exemple de l'austerite des moeurs republicaines, fit enfermer trois cent filles publiques de la ville, et les malheureuses creatures furent noyees. Enfin, l'on estime qu'il a peri a l'entrepot quinze mille personnes en un mois.--_Memoires de Madame la Marquise de Laroche-Jaquelin_.]

At the end of a fine avenue of trees, on the Boulevard, is a large and splendid mansion built by that Deputy, and which is at present inhabited by a merchant. Carrier's mistress (to whom he left it, together with a very considerable fortune, ama.s.sed from the spoils of his plunder, and the murder of the innocent inhabitants) was very lately sentenced to two years' hard labour for some crime she had committed: and it is no less remarkable, that, of the remaining inhabitants known to have partic.i.p.ated in the atrocities of that frightful period, there is not one but is reduced to poverty, and most of them in the extreme of wretchedness, shunned by all, and suffering the ignominy they have so justly merited!

CHAP. V.

COUNTRY SOUTH OF THE LOIRE.--LE BOCAGE.--CLISSON.--HISTORICAL ANECDOTES.--THE GARENNE, AND RIVER SeVRES.

The best method of travelling in this country is on horseback: in fact, it is impossible to proceed in any other way, after quitting the main road. Having procured a guide and horses, I set out early in the morning, crossing the Loire by the Pont Rosseau, to Verton, keeping along the banks of the River Sevres. Verton is a romantic village standing on a hill: most of the houses are in ruins, from the effect of the destructive war of La Vendee. From thence to Le Palet, most intricate narrow roads, or more properly speaking, pathways, darkened by the overhanging branches of trees, and in many parts deep with mire, from the sun's rays not being able to dry the ground, make it difficult to proceed, and we several times lost our way. It was late before we reached Le Palet, and though I had not tasted food for many hours, I could not resist stopping to view so interesting a spot, and making a hasty sketch of the ruins of the house in which Abelard was born, and in which Helose resided with him before their final separation. The ruins of the House of Berenger, the father of Abelard, are close to the church of Palet, on the left of the high road, three miles distant from Clisson. Le Palet is thus described by a French author, in the history of the Province.

"Cet homme si celebre par son savoir, ses amours, et ses infortunes, amena Helose au Palet lorsqu'il l'eut enlevee de chez le Chanoine Fulbert, pour la soustraire au ressentiment de cet oncle jaloux et barbare; mais, oblige de quitter cette retraite paisible pour retourner a Paris, ou l'appelaient ses nombreux disciples, le soin de sa gloire et de sa fortune, Abelard confia a sa soeur sa chere Helose et le gage precieux qu'elle portait dans son sein. Elle accoucha au Palet d'un fils d'une si rare beaute, qu'elle le nomma Astralabe, c'est-a-dire, astre brillant; mais l'absence de celui qu'elle adorait rendait moins vifs pour elle les doux plaisirs de la maternite; son ame expansive et brulante etait livree sans cesse a une inquiete et sombre melancholie qu'elle ne parvenait sans doute a dissiper qu'en venant sur les bords de la Sevres rever a l'objet de sa tendresse, et soupirer apres son retour. Sept siecles se sont ecoules depuis cette epoque, et les noms d'Abelard et d'Helose embellissent toujours ce delicieux ravage. On interroge avec une curiosite avide ces roches eternelles et ces grottes mysterieuses qui furent les temoins discrets de leurs peines et de leurs plaisirs. On se reporte a ces temps recules ou ces amants venaient dans cette solitude enchanteresse, se confier mutuellement leur vifs inquietudes; on croit les voir s'egarer sous ces riants...o...b..ages, et s'abandonner a toutes les inspirations de l'eloquence, a toutes les illusions de l'amour".

I arrived at Clisson just as the sun was disappearing, and its rays were only sufficiently strong to reflect the ruined towers of the Castle in the river which runs at its foot. It will be much easier to imagine, than for me to convey the sensations I felt when I first caught a glimpse of it, with the story of La Roche-Jaquelin full in my recollection! I alighted at a small cabaret, dignified by the appellation of the Hotel de la Providence, which seemed preferable to another recommended to me by my guide,--such an one, indeed, as might be 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 the desolating war that had been carried on here: many are still in ruins.

The descent into the town is very steep and rugged, the road being formed out of the solid rock. The master of the cabaret was sitting with his family at the door, but the appearance of his mansion was so unpromising, that I thought it best to make some agreement, and a few inquiries before dismounting;--these preliminaries being settled, and having consented to pay him fifty sous for supper and my bed, and thirty for breakfast, I entered the house: and never recollect having a keener relish for a meal, or enjoying one more heartily, for I had been sixteen hours on horseback.

Fatigued and exhausted as I was, I rambled after dinner towards the delightful grounds of La Garenne, belonging to Monsieur La Motte, who has embellished them in a most interesting and romantic manner.

The river Sevres runs along the side, and separates them from the fine old Castle of Clisson, whose high and decaying towers and battlements give the beholder a n.o.ble idea of its ancient grandeur. The evening was a very fine one,--one of those delightful soft, clear skies usual at this season, the latter end of July. I sat myself down in the grotto of Helose,--a spot of the deepest seclusion, formed, by the hand of Nature, of large ma.s.ses of granite. The nightingales were singing in the lofty trees at the back; on the sides were shrubs of every description intermingled with fruit trees, and the river having several falls and little rocky islets, gave an air of delightful enchantment to this most romantic scene.

Helose! a 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 effaced by the hand of time.

Helose peut-etre erra sur ce rivage, Quand, aux yeux des jaloux derobant son sejour, 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-etre en ce reduit sauvage, Seule, plus d'une fois, elle vint soupirer, Et gouter librement la douceur de pleurer; Peut-etre sur ce roc a.s.sise Elle revait a son malheur.

J'y veux rever aussi; j'y veux remplir mon coeur Du doux souvenir d'Helose.

I had but a few weeks before seen the tomb of Abelard and Helose in the Cemetery of Pere la Chaise at Paris, whither it had been recently removed from the Convent of the Augustins, at which latter place I had formerly made the annexed drawing of it. I had likewise been very lately 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 Abelard was born, and in which Helose resided and became a mother, and from whence she used to make frequent visits to this spot: all these circ.u.mstances combined, gave the scene before me a most powerful interest. I rose early the next day, anxious to revisit a place which had afforded me such delight the previous evening. Wandering by the beautiful banks of the river, along its green meadows, in a woody recess, I observed the following lines beneath an urn, cut in the rock on which it rested:

Consacrer dans l'obscurite, Ses loisirs a l'etude, a l'amitie sa vie, Sont des plaisirs dignes d'envie; Etre cheri vaut mieux qu'etre vante!

[Ill.u.s.tration: RUINS OF ABeLARD'S HOUSE.]

A little further on, is a stone pillar, with a venerable accacia tree spreading 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 etendit jusqu'a La Loire La Gaule Aquitanique, autrefois bornee par la Garonne, et comprit L'Armorique dans la Province Celtique ou Lyonnaise. L'Empereur Adrian, ayant fait depuis une nouvelle distribution des Gaules, divisa La Lyonnaise en deux, et mit L'Armorique dans la seconde; enfin cette Lyonnaise ou Celtique ayant ete encore divisee en deux, Tours devint la Metropole de la troisieme, qui comprenait la Touraine, le Maine, l'Anjou, et la Bretagne.--_Histoire de Bret_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: GROTTO of HeLOSE at CLISSON.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: TOMB of ABeLARD and HeLOSE.]

Farther on several large blocks of granite are piled together in so strange and curious a manner, that it must have been the work of Nature alone:--one of them has these beautiful lines carved on it:

O! Limpide Riviere! O Riviere cherie!

Puisse la sotte vanite Ne jamais dedaigner ta rive humble et fleurie!

Que ton simple sentier ne soit point frequente Par aucun tourment de la vie Tels que l'ambition, l'envie, L'avarice, et la faussete!

Un bocage si frais, un sejour si tranquille, Aux tendres sentiments doit seul servir d'azile.

Ces rameaux amoureux entrela.s.ses expres Aux Muses, aux Amours, offrent leur voile epais; Et ce cristal d'une onde pure A jamais ne doit reflechir Que les graces de la nature Et les images du plaisir.

Close to the brink of the river stands a prodigiously large granite rock, immediately facing the waterfall called le Ba.s.sin de Diane: on it are these words:

SA Ma.s.sE INDESTRVCTIBLE A FATIGVe LE TEMS.

a quotation from Delille.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GRANITE ROCK in the GARENNE.]

The French writers, speaking of this interesting place, observe: "Comment soupconner en effet qu'au milieu de cette _terrible Vendee_, qu'au centre de cet impenetrable et sombre Bocage, il existe un pays delicieux et fertile, couvert de mines seculaires qui rappelent tous les souvenirs historiques de notre ancienne France, comme le caractere de ses habitans en rappele les moeurs, le courage, et la loyaute".

On the opposite side of the river, a little to the right, stands the ancient Chateau de Clisson, celebrated in the modern as well as the ancient history of Bretagne. Its lofty turrets, and decaying bastions, extend a considerable distance along the sh.o.r.e of the Sevres, recalling to mind the ancient days of chivalry, when bravery, love, and religion, were so singularly blended together, and gave a romantic half-polished manner to the greatest barbarians. In later times it became the scene of events which no one can contemplate without the deepest interest. In viewing this magnificent ruin, it is impossible not to regret that a place so frequently the theatre of n.o.ble achievements, inhabited by one of the greatest men that France has produced, Francois I. Connetable de Clisson,[9] father to Anne of Bretagne, should have been so recently the scene of such savage horrors and bloodshed! Now, all is silence and solitude: and amidst the n.o.ble ruins which were once decorated with banners, and the hard-earned trophies of victory,--where high-born knights and splendid dames 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 the birds of prey, hovering over a solitary tree, planted to mark the spot where a deed was committed which has not often its parallel in the darkest histories of the most ferocious nations.

[Footnote 9: In the "Histoire Genealogique de France", tom. vi. is an account of the Constable's death. "The Duke of Orleans, brother to the king, was very fond of a Jewess, whom he privately visited. Having some reason to suspect that Peter de Craon, Lord of Sable and de la Ferte-Bernard, his chamberlain and favourite, had joked with the d.u.c.h.ess of Orleans upon his intrigue, he turned him out of his house with infamy. Craon imputed his disgrace partly to the Constable of Clisson. On the night of the 13th June, having waited for him at the corner of the street _Coulture Ste. Catherine_, and finding he had but little company with him, he fell upon him at the head of a score of ruffians. Clisson defended himself for some time without any other weapon than a small cutla.s.s; but after receiving three wounds, fell from his horse, and pitched against a door, which flew open. The report of this a.s.sa.s.sination reached the king's ears just as he was stepping into bed. He put on a great coat and his shoes, and repaired to the place where he was informed his constable had been killed. He found him in a baker's shop, wallowing in his blood. After his wounds were examined, "Constable, (said he to him), nothing was or ever will he so severely punished". It was given out that Clisson made his will the next day, and there was a mighty outcry about the sum of 1,700,000 livres, which it amounted to. It should be observed, that during twenty-five years that he was in the service of France, he had sought for and beaten the English every where; that he gained the famous battle of Robeck, and chastised the Flemish; that he enjoyed for twelve years the salary and appointments of Constable; and that, moreover, his landed estate, (which included many castles inherited from his ancestors, in Bretagne and Poitou,) was very considerable."]