Thick forest of beech trees.--Fearful glimpses of the
torrent.--Throne of Moses.--Lofty bridge.--Distant view of the
Convent.--Profound calm.--Enter the convent gate.--Arched
aisle.--Welcomed by the father Coadjutor.--The Secretary and
Procurator.--Conversation with them.--A walk amongst the cloisters
and galleries.--Pictures of different Convents of the order.--Grand
Hall adorned with historical paintings of St. Bruno’s life.
We quitted this solitary cross to enter a thick forest of beech trees,
that screened in some measure the precipices on which they grew,
catching however every instant terrifying glimpses of the torrent below.
Streams gushed from every crevice in the cliffs, and falling over the
mossy roots and branches of the beech, hastened to join the great
torrent, athwart which I every now and then remarked certain tottering
bridges, and sometimes could distinguish a Carthusian crossing over to
his hermitage, that just peeped above the woody labyrinths on the
opposite shore.
Whilst I was proceeding amongst the innumerable trunks of the beech
trees, my guide pointed out to me a peak, rising above the others, which
he called the Throne of Moses. If that prophet had received his
revelations in this desert, no voice need have declared it holy ground,
for every part of it is stamped with such a sublimity of character as
would alone be sufficient to impress the idea.
Having left these woods behind, and crossing a bridge of many lofty
arches, I shuddered once more at the impetuosity of the torrent; and,
mounting still higher, came at length to a kind of platform before two
cliffs, joined by an arch of rock, under which we were to pursue our
road. Below we beheld again innumerable streams, turbulently
precipitating themselves from the woods and lashing the base of the
mountains, mossed over with a dark sea green.
In this deep hollow such mists and vapours prevailed as hindered my
prying into its recesses; besides, such was the dampness of the air,
that I hastened gladly from its neighbourhood, and passing under the
second portal beheld with pleasure the sunbeams gilding the throne of
Moses.
It was now about ten o’clock, and my guide assured me I should soon
discover the convent. Upon this information I took new courage, and
continued my route on the edge of the rocks, till we struck into another
gloomy grove. After turning about it for some time, we entered again
into the glare of daylight, and saw a green valley skirted by ridges of
cliffs and sweeps of wood before us. Towards the farther end of this
inclosure, on a gentle acclivity, rose the revered turrets of the
Carthusians, which extend in a long line on the brow of the hill; beyond
them a woody amphitheatre majestically presents itself, terminated by
spires of rock and promontories lost amongst the clouds.
The roar of the torrent was now but faintly distinguishable, and all the
scenes of horror and confusion I had passed were succeeded by a sacred
and profound calm. I traversed the valley with a thousand sensations I
despair of describing, and stood before the gate of the convent with as
much awe as some novice or candidate newly arrived to solicit the holy
retirement of the order.
As admittance is more readily granted to the English than to almost any
other nation, it was not long before the gates opened, and whilst the
porter ordered our horses to the stable, we entered a court watered by
two fountains and built round with lofty edifices, characterized by a
noble simplicity.
The interior portal opening discovered an arched aisle, extending till
the perspective nearly met, along which windows, but scantily
distributed between the pilasters, admitted a pale solemn light, just
sufficient to distinguish the objects with a picturesque uncertainty. We
had scarcely set our feet on the pavement when the monks began to issue
from an arch, about half way down, and passing in a long succession from
their chapel, bowed reverently with much humility and meekness, and
dispersed in silence, leaving one of their body alone in the aisle.
The father Coadjutor (for he only remained) advanced towards us with
great courtesy, and welcomed us in a manner which gave me far more
pleasure than all the frivolous salutations and affected greetings so
common in the world beneath. After asking us a few indifferent
questions, he called one of the lay brothers, who live in the convent
under less severe restrictions than the fathers, whom they serve, and
ordering him to prepare our apartment, conducted us to a large square
hall with casement windows, and, what was more comfortable, an enormous
chimney, whose hospitable hearth blazed with a fire of dry aromatic fir,
on each side of which were two doors that communicated with the neat
little cells destined for our bed-chambers.
Whilst he was placing us round the fire, a ceremony by no means
unimportant in the cold climate of these upper regions, a bell rang
which summoned him to prayers. After charging the lay brother to set
before us the best fare their desert afforded, he retired, and left us
at full liberty to examine our chambers.
The weather lowered, and the casements permitted very little light to
enter the apartment: but on the other side it was amply enlivened by the
gleams of the fire, that spread all over a certain comfortable air,
which even sunshine but rarely diffuses. Whilst the showers descended
with great violence, the lay brother and another of his companions were
placing an oval table, very neatly carved and covered with the finest
linen, in the middle of the hall; and, before we had examined a number
of portraits which were hung in all the panels of the wainscot, they
called us to a dinner widely different from what might have been
expected in so dreary a situation. Our attendant friar was helping us to
some Burgundy, of the happiest growth and vintage, when the coadjutor
returned, accompanied by two other fathers, the secretary and
procurator, whom he presented to us. You would have been both charmed
and surprised with the cheerful resignation that appeared in their
countenances, and with the easy turn of their conversation.
The coadjutor, though equally kind, was as yet more reserved: his
countenance, however, spoke for him without the aid of words, and there
was in his manner a mixture of dignity and humility, which could not
fail to interest. There were moments when the recollection of some past
event seemed to shade his countenance with a melancholy that rendered it
still more affecting. I should suspect he formerly possessed a great
share of natural vivacity (something of it being still, indeed, apparent
in his more unguarded moments); but this spirit is almost entirely
subdued by the penitence and mortification of the order.
The secretary displayed a very considerable share of knowledge in the
political state of Europe, furnished probably by the extensive
correspondence these fathers preserve with the three hundred and sixty
subordinate convents, dispersed throughout all those countries where the
court of Rome still maintains its influence.
In the course of our conversation they asked me innumerable questions
about England, where formerly, they said, many monasteries had belonged
to their order; and principally that of Witham, which they had learnt to
be now in my possession.
The secretary, almost with tears in his eyes, beseeched me to revere
these consecrated edifices, and to preserve their remains, for the sake
of St. Hugo, their canonized prior. I replied greatly to his
satisfaction, and then declaimed so much in favour of St. Bruno, and the
holy prior of Witham, that the good fathers grew exceedingly delighted
with the conversation, and made me promise to remain some days with
them. I readily complied with their request, and, continuing in the same
strain, that had so agreeably affected their ears, was soon presented
with the works of St. Bruno, whom I so zealously admired.
After we had sat extolling them, and talking upon much the same sort of
subjects for about an hour, the coadjutor proposed a walk amongst the
cloisters and galleries, as the weather would not admit of any longer
excursion. He leading the way, we ascended a flight of steps, which
brought us to a gallery, on each side of which a vast number of
pictures, representing the dependent convents, were ranged; for I was
now in the capital of the order, where the general resides, and from
whence he issues forth his commands to his numerous subjects; who depute
the superiors of their respective convents, whether situated in the
wilds of Calabria, the forests of Poland, or in the remotest districts
of Portugal and Spain, to assist at the grand chapter, held annually
under him, a week or two after Easter.
This reverend father died about ten days before our arrival: a week ago
they elected the prior of the Carthusian convent at Paris in his room,
and two fathers were now on their route to apprise him of their choice,
and to salute him General of the Carthusians. During this interregnum
the coadjutor holds the first rank in the temporal, and the grand
vicaire in the spiritual affairs of the order; both of which are very
extensive.
If I may judge from the representation of the different convents, which
adorn this gallery, there are many highly worthy of notice, for the
singularity of their situations, and the wild beauties of the landscapes
which surround them. The Venetian Chartreuse, placed in a woody island;
and that of Rome, rising from amongst groups of majestic ruins, struck
me as peculiarly pleasing. Views of the English monasteries hung
formerly in such a gallery, but had been destroyed by fire, together
with the old convent. The list only remains, with but a very few written
particulars concerning them.
Having amused myself for some time with the pictures, and the
descriptions the coadjutor gave me of them, we quitted the gallery and
entered a kind of chapel, in which were two altars with lamps burning
before them, on each side of a lofty portal. This opened into a grand
coved hall, adorned with historical paintings of St. Bruno’s life, and
the portraits of the generals of the order, since the year of the great
founder’s death (1085) to the present time. Under these portraits are
the stalls for the superiors, who assist at the grand convocation. In
front, appears the general’s throne; above, hangs a representation of
the canonized Bruno, crowned with stars.