After passing through the above villages, we came round by Tourouvre, 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, with his family, are the only inhabitants of this lonesome spot.  I found afterwards that he had seen better days:  he informed me the Val-Dieu property was purchased at the dissolution of the Monastery by the present proprietor, who resided at Paris, and allowed him, being his friend, to occupy that part of the building which had not been destroyed.  He made many apologies for the badness of the accommodations and the homeliness of the fare he had to offer me, which I considered as unnecessary, as what he possessed was tendered with unaffected cheerfulness.