APPENDIX. 
J8S 
scured by the lurid gloom which the ingenuity of “ distempered 
imaginations” had cast around. Good God, thought I, is it pos¬ 
sible that the gift which thou bestowedst, to distinguish us 
amidst thy “ vast creation” should be thus despised; for without 
speech, how could we ever communicate to each other, that we 
possess reasoning powers-—-a manation of the divine essence ? 
To make the highest virtue consist in silence , was reserved for 
the Trappists. 
Fatigued and chagrined at this scene, which I contemplated 
apparently unobserved, I ascended the mound which contains 
the dwellings. This is nearly 25 feet in height: the ascent 
rendered easy by a slanting road. I wandered about here for 
some time, in expectation of being noticed by some one; it was 
in vain that I nodded to the reverend fathers, or peeped into their 
cabins How unaccountably the mind is sometimes affected ! 
I own I felt a kind of awe, for which I was unable to discover 
the most distant cause. Perhaps were I to enter a Pagod for the 
-first time, I might experience the same feeling. At length 
seating myself upon a log, I amused myself with the appear¬ 
ance of the different figures as they silently passed, and indulg¬ 
ed my reflections. I had read of solitary monks, and had seen 
them represented in paintings, but here they really existed.—■ 
The recollection of the figure which this strange order of 
men has made for so many centuries, in history, and in romance, 
naturally awakened a variety of remembrances with their linked 
associations. I admired with what rigid severity the good fa¬ 
thers banished from their heads, those ornamental locks be¬ 
stowed by nature, leaving one wandering tuft: a symbol of the 
crown of thorns 1 
I had the good fortune to be accosted by a young man, who 
1 discovered to be in their employment as a kind of steward, 
though not otherwise attached to the society. I experienced re¬ 
lief on being able to find one who was willing to speak: I made a 
variety of inquiries of him, but to very little purpose: he was 
however obliging, and promised to speak in my behalf to the 
Principal. In a short time Father Joseph made his appearance ; 
I learned that he had the government of the monastery in the 
absence of Father Urbaift. He is a sprightly, and intelligent 
