Its solitude, in the depths of woods, was what, more than all, had pleased them.

They would have none to witness their labours and intrude on their hopes, but the aged stones and grand old oaks.

The Glandier--ancient Glandierum--was so called from the quantity of glands (acorns) which, in all times, had been gathered in that neighbourhood.

This land, of present mournful interest, had fallen back, owing to the negligence or abandonment of its owners, into the wild character of primitive nature.

The buildings alone, which were hidden there, had preserved traces of their strange metamorphoses.