nature, which lessen the delight of contemplating the calm repose of
such a seclusion, and have taught that these retreats from the world
were not always retreats from vice; that the sacrifices of monkish
privacy were not always those of selfish feelings; and that the
austerities once practised here, as now at La Trappe, might perhaps
arise more frequently from disappointed pride and ambition, than
from the pure feelings of pious resignation. In the overthrow of the
monarchy and that of the priesthood, this venerable pile became the
object of popular vengeance; and had the Revolution done no more than
effected the dissolution of the different orders of monks and nuns,
every reflecting mind must have been pleased: the removal of those
abuses, like the division of landed property into smaller portions,
(whereby the country in general became more cultivated and
productive,) was serviceable to France; and, if any circumstance can
restore permanent tranquillity, it will be the interest which the
different landholders have in the soil and the representative system,
which will serve to check the ambition of its future governors.
Already the good effects of these are to be perceived; and the
excessive abuses, insolence, and profligacy, of ancient ministerial
oppression, which paved the way for the downfall of the monarchy, and,
like a pestilence, destroyed that which was good with that which was
evil, will be prevented in future.

It is, nevertheless, melancholy to observe the traces of devastation
visible in all directions: the people themselves appear not to regard
it, but this may arise partly from the long and habitual feelings
generated by the scenes to which the Revolution daily gave rise, and
partly from the constitutional cheerfulness of the natives, who seldom
view objects through the same dark medium that ours are supposed to
do, and who, though they are not celebrated for patience, are of all