ave with aisles going all round the choir, and three round apsidal
chapels at the end. The five arches on each side of the nave are
horse-shoe shaped, and the choir is surrounded by the same number of high
narrow arches, resting on columns with grotesque capitals of complicated
design. The three chapels behind are seen through the opening; on one of
the capitals is sculptured the cross of the Templars. The whole building
is spoiled by whitewash.

"Chevaliers en ce monde cy
Ne peuvent vivre sans souci;
Ils doivent le peuple defendre,
Et leur sang pour la foi espandre."
EUSTACHE DESCHAMPS.

[Illustration: 52. Torche of Penmarch.]

We engaged a rough kind of vehicle, much like a butcher's cart, to visit
the Torche de Penmarch, a rocky promontory, so called from its fancied
resemblance to a horse's head, forming the southern extremity of the
department of Finistere. The Torche is a mass of rocks separated from the
mainland by a chasm called the "Saut de Moine," because an Irish saint,
named Viaud, jumped across it on his landing. In rough weather, the noise
made by the sea dashing against its sides and rushing through the crevices
of the rocks, is said to be heard at Quimper, a distance of twenty-one
miles. A line of rocks runs all along the coast, marked by a lighthouse at
Penmarch; we proceeded to another group of rocks near which M. de
Chatellier, a proprietor and antiquary of this country, has built a house
for painting and enjoying the scenery. One of our party clambered down to
see the "Trou d'Enfer," a tremendously deep hole in the rocks, the bottom
covered with a pink sort of sea-weed, and the water as clear as crystal.
The whole country is a dreary sandy level, with salt-marshes, over which
we passed to the ruined church of St. Fiacre, and close by is that of St.
Guenole, both situated near the sea. The countryman who showed us the
church, knelt reverently down at the threshold and put up a short prayer
before he entered the sacred building. The general devoutness and strong
faith of the Bretons is most impressive and genuine, mixed, no doubt, with
great superstition; but, as Wesley says, "Heaven makes allowance for
invincible ignorance, and blesses the faith notwithstanding the
superstition."

[Illustration: 53. Ship Sculptured on the Walls. Church of St. Guenole,
Penmarch.]

St. Guenole consists of an unfinished square tower, with crocketed
pinnacles and a porch of c