He especially, who had shot at M. de Rance, became eminently
distinguished for his piety and learning, and was afterwards Sub-Prior
of La Trappe".
M. de Rance lived forty years at the head of this singular society,
and the same ardor and piety continued to distinguish him to the last.
The excess of self-denial and discipline, exercised by this order,
which might readily be doubted, became more known, especially to this
country, at the time of the French Revolution, when they shared the
fate of dissolution with the various religious orders in France. On
that occasion many of them sought an asylum in England, and were
settled in Dorsetshire, where they received the kind protection and
benevolent assistance of Mr. Weld, until the restoration enabled most
of them to return; and, surprising as it may appear in the present
age, notwithstanding the perpetual violence imposed by their
regulations on every human feeling, many are found anxious to enter
the establishment.
When I was about to take my leave of Frere Charle, he said, "he hoped
I was pleased with my humble fare: to such as it was I had been truly
welcome". Indeed he had treated me with the kindest, most unaffected
hospitality; he had laid the table, spread the dishes before me, stood
the whole time by the side of my chair, and pressed me to eat: How
could I not be thankful? I requested he would be seated, but he
observed that it was not proper for him to be so. His manners and
general deportment bespoke him a well-bred gentleman; and when I
ventured to ask if I might make a memorandum of his name, he bowed his
head with meekness and resignation, and said, "I have now no other but
that which was bestowed on me when I took the vow, which severs me
from the world for ever!" It was impossible not to be affected at the
manner and tone of voice in which he uttered this.
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