On quitting Paris, I had procured a letter of introduction from Count
La Cou to Madame de Bellou, at Mortagne, a charming old lady of an
ancient and noble family in that province, who had never quitted the
seat of her ancestors, but remained quiet and respected during all the
storms of the revolution. She received me with kindness, and politely
introduced me to the Sub-Prefect, Monsieur Lamorelie, who gave me a
letter of introduction to the Père Don Augustin, Grand Prior of La
Trappe. The mayor of the commune of Solignié, who happened to be at
the inn, and learned from the _Aubergiste_, that a stranger intended
visiting La Trappe, very civilly introduced himself to me, and gave me
every necessary direction how to proceed through the forest; at the
same time expressing his surprise that an Englishman should take
the trouble, and undergo the fatigue of penetrating through such a
country, an attempt which few of his own countrymen had ever ventured
to make. It was singular enough that only one person in the town could
be found to accompany me as a guide, or who knew any thing of
the track through the forest, although the abbey is distant only
twenty-five miles.

I set out with the guide just at day-break, mounted on a small Norman
horse, and armed with pistols and a sword-cane, in case of meeting
with wolves, which the mayor of Solignié had cautioned me against, as
abounding throughout the country. We travelled, after leaving the
main road, at the distance of a league, through a country scarcely
appearing to be inhabited. Here and there a lone cot, a mere speck,
met the eye amidst a landscape composed of nothing but barren wastes
and thick forests, nearly impervious to the light. We had penetrated
about half a mile through one of the latter, my attention occupied
with the romantic wildness of the scene, when we were alarmed by the
howling of a wolf. My guide crossed himself, and began cracking his