was born, and in which Héloïse resided and became a mother, and from
whence she used to make frequent visits to this spot: all these
circumstances 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'obscurité,
Ses loisirs à l'étude, à l'amitié sa vie,
Sont des plaisirs dignes d'envie;
Etre chéri vaut mieux qu'être vanté!

[Illustration: RUINS OF ABÉLARD'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