[Illustration: RUINS of the ANCIENT CHURCH of LA TRAPPE.]

While I was contemplating the ruins around me, and watching the
motions of a venerable figure in silent prayer at one of the angles,
the bell tolled, when both Frère Charle and the Monk dropped instantly
on their knees. How forcibly were the following lines of Pope recalled
to my mind!

Lo, the struck deer, in some sequester'd part,
Lies down to die, (the arrow in his heart;)
There, hid in shades, and wasting day by day,
Inly he bleeds, and pants his soul away.

The number of Monks who have taken the vow are not in proportion to
the others, who are lay brothers, and _Frères Donnés_; in all there
are about one hundred, besides novices, who are principally composed
of boys, and who do not wear the same habit. The Trappistes, who
compose the first order, are clothed in dark brown, with brown mantle
and hood; the others are in white, with brown mantle and hood.
I occasionally caught a glimpse of their faces, but it was only
momentarily; and I can easily believe, with their perpetual silence,
that two people well known to each other, might inhabit the same spot,
without ever being aware of it, so completely are their faces hidden
by their large cowl. The Trappistes, or first order, are distinguished
by the appellation of _Frères Convers_, the others by that of
_Religieux de Coeur_.

The hardships undergone by these monks appear almost insupportable
to human nature, and notwithstanding the immense number of deaths