Il6 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



an account of the reception which the monks had 

 oiven them ; it could not have heen more unkind, 

 or more uncivil. It was not till after making a 

 great many difficulties that they permitted them 

 to pass the night within the walls of the convent, 

 and it had been intimated to them to provide 

 themselves as well as me v/ith another lodging. 



The reception which I met v/ith was not a whit 

 better. When I entered the court, in the middle 

 of which our baggage was thrown down, one of 

 the monks was walking in a gallery ; he pre- 

 tended not to perceive me, and retired into an 

 apartment. 1 ascended, and I saw a young man, 

 a complete monkish doll, whose fair and fresh 

 complexion demonstrated that apostolic zeal did 

 not often expose it to the face of day. A little 

 beard, carefully trimmed, and arranged with uni- 

 formity, shaded, without encumbering, his chin ; 

 every thing about him announced the most atten- 

 tive solicitudes of the toilet, as well as the ton of 

 a petit-maitre. My figure, scorched by the sun, 

 appeared to startle him ; the wrinkles of ill- 

 humour furrowed his fair forehead, and a look of 

 disdain measured me from top to toe. The pitiful 

 fellow scarcely deigned to raise himself from a 

 sofa, on which he was rather reclined than 

 seated, and allowed me to stand before him ; he 

 told me tliat ray retinue and my baggage had been 



very 



