CHAP. I.

ROUTE FROM PARIS TO MORTAGNE.--EXCURSION TO LA TRAPPE.--STATE OF THE
ORDER SINCE THE RESTORATION IN 1814.--ITS FOUNDATION AND RULES UNDER
THE ABBE DE RANCE.


I performed this journey during the months of June, July, August, and
September, a distance of near one thousand miles, and had the singular
good fortune to enjoy the finest weather possible. The perusal of
Madame de La Roche-Jaquelin's interesting work on the Vendean war,
first gave me the idea of visiting the country called le Bocage, the
theatre of so many events, and sufferings of the brave royalists; and,
as the province of le Perche, in which is situated the ancient convent
of La Trappe, was in my route to Bretagne, I resolved to make an
excursion there, in order to satisfy myself of the truth of those
austerities which I had read of in the Memoirs of the Count de
Comminge.

The route from Paris to Mortagne, in le Perche, leads through Marly,
Versailles, Saint Cyr, Pont Chartrain, La Queue, Houdon, Marrolles,
Dreux, Nonancourt, Tillières, Verneuil, and Saint Maurice. The roads
are excellent, and the country beautiful. The first post out of Paris
is Nanterre. Two leagues and a half from the barriere, the village
of Ruel, and the park of Malmaison, form a continuation of neat
buildings. At Nanterre, in the campaign of 1815, the Prussians, after
a severe engagement with the retreating troops of the French, had one
regiment of cavalry cut to pieces. At Ruel, the celebrated Cardinal