That the fort was of great size and strength is
sufficiently shewn by the depth, width, and extent of the entrenchments
still left, which, particularly towards the plain, are immense; and, if
credence may be given to common report, in such matters always apt to
exaggerate, the subterraneous passages indicate a fortress of
importance.
It chanced, that I visited the hill on Michaelmas-day, and a curious
proof was afforded me, that, at however low an ebb religion may be in
France, enthusiastic fanaticism is far from extinct. A man of the lower
classes of society was praying before a broken cross, near St. Michael's
Chapel, where, before the revolution, the monks of St. Ouen used
annually on this day to perform mass, and many persons of extraordinary
piety were wont to assemble the first Wednesday of every month to pray
and to preach, in honor of the guardian angels. His manner was earnest
in the extreme; his eyes wandered strangely; his gestures were
extravagant, and tears rolled in profusion down a face, whose every
feature bore the strongest marks of a decided devotee.
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