etired valley about six miles from the
sea. According to the tradition of the country, it was built by "Les
moines rouges," as they style the Templar Knights. The road was
incessantly up and down hill, as we afterwards found they are throughout
Brittany; a "pays accidente" it may be truly called. The chapel of Lanleff
is composed of two concentric circular enclosures separated by twelve
round arches, with cushion-shaped capitals, having heads, human and
animal, rudely sculptured upon them at the four angles. Its whole diameter
is about twenty-two feet. It was probably built by some Templar Knight in
the beginning of the twelfth century on his return from the Holy Land. The
number of arches may allude to that of the twelve Apostles.

[Illustration: 18. Plan of Lanleff Church.]

The parish church was built into the east side of the temple, the only
part which has preserved its roof, and which served as a vestibule to the
more modern building. A gigantic yew formerly grew in the central
enclosure, and overshadowed it with its spreading branches; but the parish
church has been taken down and rebuilt in another part of the village, and
the yew-tree has disappeared.

Close to the temple is a spring enclosed by flagstones. When moistened,
they appear covered with blood-stained spots. According to the tradition,
in olden times an unnatural father sold his child to the Evil One. The
gold received for the bargain was counted out upon the side of the spring,
and the accursed money left its print upon the stones. A bare-legged
peasant who stood by with her pitcher, threw some water over the stones,
and immediately there appeared round red spots of different
sizes--indelible marks of the diabolical bargain. We went into a cottage
close by, and had some boiled eggs and cider. The inmates were at their
meal--a bowl of milk, into which they broke their buckwheat "galette." We
were much struck with the jealous pertinacity of the Breton, to show he
considers himself as of a different people and country to the rest of
France, a feeling which more than three hundred years has not dissipated.
Our driver would talk of Bretons and French as of distinct nations, and
the Normans in this part of Brittany are the special objects of hatred,
originating, perhaps, in the former subjection of Brittany to Normandy.
When Charles the Simple ceded to the fierce Northmen the province now
known by their name, their sovereignty extended over Brittany, and