82 THE MONK. 



by his unerring sagacity discovered our resting-place. He exhibited 

 every symptom of satisfaction, by leaping about us, and rubbing 

 himself against different parts of our bodies, in order to impart a 

 portion of warmth to the frozen limbs ; while, ever and anon, he 

 uttered two or three short barks, to inform those who were ap- 

 proaching that he had found something which required their imme- 

 diate attendance. T\;\>elve or fourteen persons now appeared, some 

 carrying flambeaux, others provided with long poles and rones. The 

 help came most opportunely, as by this time the whole of our party 

 were incapable of moving. We were quickly conveyed to the Hos- 

 pice, and soon safely deposited within its sheltering walls. Here, 

 all the usual remedies were employed to restore circulation, and 

 with complete success ; cordials were administered in due time ; and 

 with the luxury of a good fire, warm clothing, and refreshing food, 

 the perils we had gone through were almost forgotten, and we re- 

 tired to rest, fervently thanking the wise Director of all events for 

 our preservation, and the monks of St. Bernard as the instruments 

 with which it had been accomplished. 



During the next and several succeeding days, the weather was so 

 tempestuous that it was not deemed advisable for me to continue my 

 journey. I therefore gladly accepted the kind invitation of the fa- 

 thers to rest under their roof until a favourable change in the ele- 

 ments should permit me to proceed in safety. In this time I had an 

 opportunity of learning much of the domestic economy of their 

 establishment, remarking minutely the habits and manners of its 

 inmates. The individuals composing this community are a simple- 

 hearted, unsophisticated set of men. Separated from the rest of the 

 world, both by the nature of their vocation, and their peculiar loca- 

 lity, they are untainted by the prejudices, vices, and foibles of busy 

 life. They neither make nor meddle in the affairs and events which 

 disturb general society. They know but little of the ambition and 

 intrigue by which states and empires are governed, or of the specu- 

 lations and controversies which agitate scientific inquiry. There 

 are, indeed, exceptions to this rule in men who (disappointed and 

 disgusted at finding noxious weeds springing up at every step in 

 what they had visionarily pictured the bright flower-garden of life) 

 have, after gathering some of the bloom from the passing hours, 

 and perhaps finding it mingled with the bitter poison of blighted 

 hope, turned from the delusive mirage, and devoted the remainder 



nard, and is said to have been the direct means of saving fifteen human 

 beings from the death that awaited them. 



