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Aside from the correction of obvious typographical errors, the text has
not been modernized; the original (some archaic) spellings have been
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Marsailles; horison for horizon). [Note of etext transcriber.]
MEMORANDA
ON
TOURS, TOURAINE
AND
CENTRAL FRANCE.
Tours.--Printed by A. MAME and Co.
MEMORANDA
ON
TOURS AND TOURAINE
INCLUDING
REMARKS ON THE CLIMATE
with a sketch
OF THE
BOTANY AND GEOLOGY OF THE PROVINCE
ALSO ON THE
WINES
AND
MINERAL WATERS
OF
FRANCE
The maladies to which they are applicable, and their effects upon the
constitution. To which is added an appendix containing a variety of
useful information to
THE TOURIST
BY
J. H. HOLDSWORTH, M. D.
TOURS,
A. AIGRE, rue Royale.
Messrs. CALIGNANIS, No 18, rue Vivienne, PARIS;
HENRY RENSHAW, No 356, Strand, LONDON;
And all other Booksellers.
1842
"Thou, nature, art my Goddess; to thy law my services are bound."
SHAKSPEARE.
TO
LAWSON CAPE, M. D.
Lecturer at Saint-Thomas's Hospital
THIS SMALL VOLUME
IS INSCRIBED
As a slight testimony of friendship and esteem
BY THE
AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
The author of the present little volume in offering it to the public is
sensible how crude and imperfect is its form. The haste with which from
unavoidable circumstances, it has been composed and the difficulties he
has had to contend with in printing it in a foreign country will, he
trusts, be considered an excuse, however insufficient, for errors which
would otherwise be unpardonable.
His object has been to convey information on subjects new to the
generality of those who resort to France for the restoration of their
health. In England, independent of the valetudinarian, not only the man
of wealth and fashion, but the economist of time and means,--in these
days of locomotive mania,--deem a visit to the continent almost
indispensable; and in the majority of cases, after the resolution to
take a trip abroad is formed the resolvent with a perfect indifference
as to _route_ or _locality_, becomes anxious to obtain information
concerning such places as may in reality be most calculated to conduce
to his health, pleasure, instruction or amusement,--either _en route_,
or as a temporary place of residence.
Under a due consideration of these circumstances the author trusts
having endeavoured to blend information with utility and amusement in
so unpretending and general a form; he may be deemed to have
accomplished the ends to which he has humbly aspired. And should his
professional occupations at some future period, permit him to revise his
work, he will render its style more worthy of the reader.
Tours, september 1842.
CONTENTS.
Page
Description of the scenery of Touraine 1
Remarks on the climate of Touraine 8
Beneficial effects of the climate considered 13
Directions for invalid travellers 25
Hydropathic treatment 32
Wines of France 34
Description of various routes to Tours 42
Notices respecting Tours and its neighbourhood 49
Sporting 54
Ancient Chateaux of Touraine 55
Mettray Colony 73
Remarks on society at Tours 81
Botany of Touraine 88
Information respecting the growth and varieties
of the vine 97
Geology of Touraine 105
Spas of France 123
Spas of central France, their respective localities,
medicinal virtues, diseases to which
they are applicable, etc. 139
Classification of French wines, places where
grown, character, comparative qualities,
etc., etc. 186
Alcoholic strength of various wines and liquors 192
Meteorological Register for Tours 194
Reaumur's Thermometric scale turned into
Fahrenheit's 208
Appendix.--Passports, Cash, Coinage 209
Useful information for travellers, etc., etc. 217
Expense of living in France, etc. 230
[Illustration: VUE DE TOURS
Lith. CLAREY-MARTINEAU. r de la harpe 16, TOURS.]
MEMORANDA
OF
TOURS, TOURAINE,
AND
CENTRAL FRANCE.
CHARACTER OF THE SCENERY OF TOURAINE.
Although there is little that can be denominated bold, or strikingly
romantic, in the general aspect of the country around Tours, it
nevertheless, possesses charms of a peculiar and novel nature, alike
calculated to gratify a lover of the picturesque, tranquillize the
mind, and renovate the enfeebled energies of the valetudinarian.
Hence it has long been famed as a favourite resort, more especially, of
these classes of British Tourists, etc.; many adopting it as a temporary
place of residence, whilst others have permanently established
themselves in some of the beautiful sylvan retreats which characterize
the more immediate vicinity of the city.
Throughout a vast area, the surface of the surrounding country is
pleasingly diversified by gentle undulations, considerable tracts of
which are adorned by dense masses of foliage, occasionally presenting
deeply indented vistas, embosoming some modern country house or ancient
Chateau, with its spacious, but somewhat formal pleasure grounds. Many
picturesque vales with their meandering streams, verdant meadows, and
towering poplars, also present themselves to the eye of the traveller,
but the characteristic rural features of this portion of France are its
wide spread _vineyards_, which may almost be said to occupy every slope,
and crown every upland.
As throughout nearly the whole of these extensive tracts of fluttering
verdure, the walnut, the apple, and in many instances the peach,
apricot, cherry and almond, with innumerable elms, oaks, and gigantic
specimens of the Lombardy poplar are thickly and pretty uniformly
interspersed, the whole country assumes a remarkably foreign and sylvan
character; the peaceful beauty of which is much heightened by the
sequestered and vine clad abodes of the rural population, of the
majority of which, it may almost literally be said, that they are
surrounded by a terrestrial paradise, teeming with the most luscious and
grateful productions of all bounteous nature.
Although such is the agreeable aspect of much of what may be termed the
table lands of Touraine, the picturesque character of the landscape is
much enhanced as we gradually descend into the capacious valley of the
Loire.
On approaching the _Barriere de la Tranchee_, the ancient and handsome
city of Tours, with the dome capped towers of its magnificent cathedral,
and other churches, presents itself full in view, occupying a
considerable area on the opposite banks of the river, and being
encircled by a girdle of luxuriant foliage formed by its celebrated
_Mall (le Mail)_, a spacious avenue of fine elms; beyond which, a
fertile plain of about two miles broad extends to the Cher; which is
immediately succeeded by the richly wooded southern slopes of the vale,
thickly bespangled with the handsome white residences of the French
noblesse.
The broad and voluminous waters of the Loire, are here, as in many other
localities, adorned by two rather large and well planted islands,
between which the noble bridge with its fifteen elliptic arches
stretches across the stream; opening a direct communication with the
spacious Rue Royale, said to be one of the handsomest streets in Europe.
The two opposite slopes of the beautiful vale of the Loire, which are
sometimes deeply furrowed or intersected by denudated vallies, being
thickly studded with pretty villas, surrounded by ornamental grounds,
and intersected by thriving vineyards, with their sequestered villages,
sometimes alone detectable by the tall taper mineret of the Parish
church, piercing through the sombre masses of foliage that occasionally
project far into the hurrying current, or abruptly recede to crown some
bold projection of the adjacent heights, necessarily present, many
exceedingly interesting views, whose charming realities can alone be
correctly depicted by the pencil of the artist, and many of which do in
fact, merit to be delineated by the genius of a Claude.
The expansive plain through which this noble river gracefully
serpentines, possesses an exceedingly fertile alluvial soil on a
substratum of gravel, and is chiefly devoted to agricultural purposes;
but, occasionally contains extensive tracts of pasture land, which
fattens the majority of the cattle consumed in the adjacent districts.
The soils of the table lands are comparatively poor and infertile, being
for the most part constituted of a light sandy loam and tenaceous
calcareous marl, in which frequently a gravelly debris prevails, or
innumerable flint stones are interspersed.
The subformations of the country being chiefly composed of sandstone and
porous calcareous and siliceous rocks, renders the thin soils on these
higher tracts extremely dry and arid. And perhaps this is more
particularly the case where the white sandstone forms extensive mural
terraces along the northern borders of the vale of the Loire. At _la
Tranchee_ this rock being barely covered, and where it happens to be so
to any depth, by a porous loamy and gravelly deposit only,--this fact is
peculiarly and very happily demonstrated by the healthiness of the
place.
CLIMATE OF TOURAINE, ETC.
A characteristic freedom from terreous moisture and aqueous exhalations,
tends in no small degree to augment the natural salubrity of the
Tourainean climate, and perhaps it is mainly indebted to its peculiar
geological structure, which we shall presently consider more in detail,
for the preference awarded to certain of its localities by invalids,
over the somewhat milder but generally speaking more humid resorts of
southern France.
The topographical situation also of Tours secures to it some
advantageous peculiarities not possessed by many of the frequented
places of the south. Pau in the south-west of France, one of its most
formidable rivals, is, in consequence of its proximity to the Pyrenees,
subject to considerable variations of temperature, and although a
considerable distance from the coast, is very much under the influence
of the Atlantic. All the changes though in some degree modified to which
it gives rise extending as far as that place. These effects cannot be
properly said to reach Tours, which is situated in a fine campaign
country, and is at least twice the distance of Pau from the sea, or
about one hundred and fifty miles; the temperature however of Tours is
subject to rather frequent but decidedly not great vicissitudes, the
thermometer being rarely above 80 deg. in summer or below 40 deg. in winter.
The comparative statements given by Dr Playfair respecting the
climates of several places in the north and south of Europe, may
somewhat serve to illustrate that of Tours with regard to those
respective localities:[A] "The mean annual temperature of Pau is 4-1/2 deg.
higher than that of London, and about 3 deg. higher than that of Penzance;
it is about 5 deg. lower than that of Marsilles, Nice, and Rome, and 10 deg.
lower than that of Maderia. In winter it is 2 deg. warmer than London, 3 deg.
colder than Penzance, 6 deg. colder than Nice and Rome, and 18 deg. colder than
Maderia. But in _spring_ Pau is 6 deg. warmer than London, and 5 deg. warmer
than Penzance; only 2-1/2 deg. colder than Marsilles and Rome, and 7 deg. colder
than Maderia.
The range of temperature, between the warmest and coldest months at Pau
is 32 deg.; this at London, and likewise at Rome is 26 deg.; at Penzance it is
only 18 deg., and at Maderia 14 deg.. The daily range of temperature at Pau is
7-1/2 deg., at Penzance it is 6-1/2 deg., at Nice 8-1/2 deg., at Rome 11 deg.."
At Tours the prevailing winds are south westerly. Between however the
vernal equinox (the 21st of march and the latter part of april),
easterly winds are rather frequent, but the city is pretty effectually
protected from the effects of these and the north winds by the high
range of country which stretches out from nearly east to west along the
northern banks of the Loire. The long succession of handsome villas
pleasantly situated opposite Tours at the base of these high grounds,
occasionally climbing their slopes, and which are chiefly occupied by
English families, being entirely protected from them.
The autumn which is peculiarly mild and may be said to be here
exceedingly charming,--especially where the red tinted leaves of the
vine impart a glowing richness to the vineyard clad landscape,--advances
with an agreeable and smiling aspect into the more dreary month of
december, when cold weather may, generally speaking, be said to have
commenced; though the middle of most days is still cheered by a warm and
genial sunshine. A good deal of heavy rain usually falls about the
autumnal equinox, but is quickly absorbed by the porous soil and
prevailing arenaceous formations of the neighbourhood, consequently, the
atmosphere is particularly free from humidity.
A peculiar absence from cold winds may be strictly said to prevail the
greater portion of the year, but perhaps the characteristic qualities of
the climate are the equability of its seasons, and the comparative
mildness of its spring. Constituting in a high degree, that healthful
atmosphere so indispensable to the preservation and improvement of our
native energies both physical and mental.
In all chronic pulmonary affections, the quality of the air which is
inspired into the lungs is well known to be a point of the most vital
consequence, and therefore invalids affected by inflammatory affections
of that organ experience much benefit by repairing to a climate like
this, more particularly during the vernal exacerbations of the disease.
Indeed experience has proved the climate of Tours to be peculiarly
efficacious in bronchial affections, being very beneficial in almost all
cases of irritation of the air passages, whether or not accompanied by
increased secretion.
The mild equable temperature of the Touraine climate is peculiarly
adapted to afford essential relief to persons predisposed to phthisis
or consumption, and those suffering from laryngeal, bronchial, and
catarrhal affections, assimulating that disease. Also to invalids
labouring under chronic dyspepsia, gout, and rheumatic affections, a
_winter's_ residence particularly, in Tours, has frequently proved
highly serviceable, and no inconsiderable benefit is experienced by
persons who have contracted local disease from a residence in a tropical
or unhealthy climate.
Most of the above mentioned diseases being generally induced by a
continued subjection to the suddenness and excess of atmospherical
vicissitudes, and which the efforts of medicine alone too frequently
fail to eradicate or alleviate, it is sufficiently evident, that a
removal to localities where these causes can be in a great measure
obviated, is in most cases, the more commendable course the afflicted
can pursue, as the one assuredly the most calculated to expedite the
remedial skill of the Physician through the renovating virtues of those
powerful and efficient agents, travelling and _change of air_.
When it is considered how much the natural character of the subtle and
elastic fluid which surrounds the earth is changed and modified in
different localities by the geographical position and physical
peculiarities so variously distinguishing the respective regions of the
globe, it will, we trust, readily be conceived from what has been stated
of such circumstances, respecting Tours and its neighbourhood, that its
prevailing climatic qualities cannot fail to be of a highly healthful
tendency.
Tours, we have intimated, is too remote from the Ocean, to be
prejudicially affected by its mutable influences, or by the vast stream
of aqueous vapours perpetually arising from the great western
waters;--it is environed by moderately elevated _absorbing_
formations,--it is situated in a broad and extensive vale, whose fertile
soils are based upon a thick alluvial deposit of gravel;--while its
walls are bathed by the purifying waters of a wide, rapid and limpid
river.
It is from such a happy combination of natural circumstances that its
atmosphere possesses the transparency and elasticity which so strikingly
characterizes it; and on which of course its peculiar adaptation for
the due and healthful performance of the animal functions mainly
depends.
Lord Bacon thinks the best air is to be met with in open campaign
countries; where the soil is dry, not parched or sandy, and
spontaneously produces wild thyme, wild marjorem, and the like sweet
scented plants.
It is in fact sufficiently obvious, that wherever the aerial currents
have a free and unobstructed circulation those injurious mixtures, in
the form of vapour known under the name of _miasmata_, cannot
disseminate their baneful seeds, the whole ingredients of the atmosphere
being thereby continually amalgamated together.
The greater portion indeed of central France, it may justly be said, has
as strong and palpable claims to a genial and equable climate, as the
province of Touraine, with all its acknowledged local advantages. The
winters are of very short duration, and a powerful sun during the
greater part of the year dispenses heat and life through a cloudless and
lucid atmosphere.
The present winter (1842), like its immediate predecessor has been
somewhat remarkable for an unusual though partial severity. This was
only experienced at Tours during the month of January, when a keen but
dry atmosphere prevailed. The cold about this period however, seems to
have been severely felt in the south of Europe generally, and in
countries where the temperature is usually very mild. At _Rome_ on the
ninth January 1842, there was a fall of snow which remained on the
ground several hours, and on the thirteenth the hills of Albano and
Tusculum were still covered with snow. The cold was twenty two degrees
below freezing point, which is a very rare circumstance in the Roman
states. At _Carthagena_, where severe cold is seldom known, the
thermometer fell for the first time to a degree and a half below zero.
The hills for the first time for many years were covered with snow. At
_Madrid_, the great basin of the Buen-Retiro was covered with ice
several inches thick, and two sentinels of the queen's palace were
frozen to death at their posts. At _Valencia_ the thermometer fell seven
degrees below freezing point. At _Burgois_, _Barcelona_, and _Cordova_,
the weather was equally severe. Even the shores of _Africa_ experienced
a similar visitation;--at _Algiers_ the thermometer stood at three
degrees below zero. So low a temperature had not been experienced for
twenty years. At _Trieste_ on the third of January, the roads were
blocked up with snow, and the Mails from France and Italy were two days
in arrears.
During the same month at _Tours_, but a few very slight falls of snow
were experienced, and which throughout the whole winter, with the
exception of one or two days, did not cover the ground for more than a
few hours duration.
On the third, the thermometer here, stood at thirty-six degrees of
Farenhenit in the shade, on the ninth at 24 deg., the thirteenth at 31 deg.,
the fifteenth at 39 deg., the twentieth at 34 deg., and on the twenty-fifth at
forty-six degrees; the latter being the highest point the mercury
attained during the month, and seventeen at nine o'clock in the morning
of the tenth, the lowest, and which at midday rose to twenty-five
degrees. There were thirteen clear, sunny days, and but six in which
rain or snow fell. The north east winds prevailed until the tenth, when
west and south west winds set in, and continued until the end of the
month. The average daily range of temperature was four and a half.
The weather of the succeeding month rapidly became still more
propitious, and the many days which a genial sun shone forth in
uninterrupted splendour, produced a very sensible effect upon
vegetation, the swelling buds of many of the deciduous trees, appeared
on the eve of expanding into full form and beauty, while the green
mantle of the plain assumed a lively and luxurious appearance.
During the month of march the thermometer continues generally to range
between forty and fifty degrees; the vegetable world now resumes its
wonted vigour and activity with astonishing rapidity, and the whole face
of nature begins to wear a smiling and cheerful aspect. The warm glowing
sunshine of April completes the lovely picture, the tender plant is no
longer held in bondage by the opposing elements, a thousand pretty
odoriferous harbingers on every side remind us that the season of
universal florescence is at hand, regenerated, benificent nature,
rejoices beneath a serene and cloudless sky, and whilst a magical
brilliancy illumines the new born verdure, the embryo bud, the expanded
blossom, and the vigorous plant of spring, silently but eloquently give
joyful promise of the abundant fruits of Autumn.
This is a pleasing but not overwrought picture of the forwardness and
redundant beauty of the springs of central France:--
Where the resplendant orb of day
Imparts the magic of his ray
Een'through the wintry blast!
And dormant nature forthwith springs,
Mounting to life with vig'rous wings
Triumphant oer the past.
For now the rural gods do reign,
Oer vine-clad hill and verdant plain,
To grace the teemful earth;
The clear, _elastic_ air is fill'd,
With sweets the flowerets have distill'd,
To consecrate their birth.
Redolent zephyrs play around,
And _health_ inspiring hills abound,
Beneath these bright blue skies;
New energy, new life to man they give,
Bidding his drooping spirit live,
And taste the _new-born-joys_.
DIRECTIONS FOR INVALID TRAVELLERS.
It being a matter of the first importance to the valetudinarian to adopt
every precaution against the atmospheric effects to which he is
necessarily exposed in his transit from place to place, and also of
great consequence to be provided with such comforts and necessaries as
are probably not to be obtained in his route through the country; a few
observations on this point may here with propriety be introduced, and
which we think cannot be more judiciously stated than in the words, of a
popular writer, who has spent many years in travelling on the continent.
"It will add materially to the comforts and advantage of invalids who
travel _en poste_, to have a courier who rides before, to avoid the
delays at the post-stations, at frontiers, etc., and to have apartments
at the hotels ready prepared on the arrival of his employers, as these
circumstances often occasion a good deal of discomfort and annoyance to
persons in bad health. An easy English-built carriage from a maker's on
whom reliance can be placed, fitted up with conveniences, and springs
and wheels suited to the continental roads, is requisite for those who
wish to travel in comfort. Many of the roads are paved, which sometimes
occasions considerable fatigue. For elderly and delicate persons who are
liable to be affected by the transitions of temperature, a post-chariot
is the best: for others a light travelling britscka, or _chaise de
poste_ will best answer the purpose.
It is very advisable for invalids, as well as persons in health, not to
sit too long at a time in the carriage, but to get out now and then to
walk up the hills, or at the post-stations, as by so doing the fatigue
consequent upon the muscles being kept long in the same position will be
avoided.
Those persons who labour under affections of the air passages should be
provided with a Jeffrey's respirator, though its too frequent use is not
to be recommended, as tending to render the respiratory organs more
susceptible. A pair of leather sheets may be placed beneath the
seat-cushions, as a precaution against damp beds, which, however, are
seldom met with in France or Italy. Essence of ginger is a useful
stimulant, and a teaspoonful in a cup of tea on arriving after a days
journey is very refreshing. Those who are in weak health, and travellers
in general, should eat very sparingly of animal food when on a journey,
as it tends to produce heat and flushing. Black tea is one of the most
useful articles travellers can be provided with, as it is seldom good
in small towns or at inns on the road. As an evening meal, tea, with a
little cold meat or chicken, is much preferable to a hot dinner or
supper, which not unfrequently is a cause of sleeplessness. Those who
are subject to cold feet should be provided with short boots of coarse
cloth, to slip on and off, over their ordinary boots, as occasion may
require, and a small feet-warmer should be placed in the carriage. A
large medicine chest, which is a constant companion of many families,
will be cumbersome and unnecessary, as almost all medicines of good
quality may be obtained in all the towns frequented by invalids. A small
chest containing a few articles likely to be required at out of the way
places (as lint, soap-plaster, James's powder, a small quantity of
calomel, laudanum, extracts of henbane and colocynth, a box of aperient
pills, spirits of ammonia, tartarised antimony, castor oil, rhubarb,
weights and scales,) will, however, be a useful precautionary addition
to the luggage."
The cheering and beneficial influence of travelling through a succession
of novel and agreeable scenes, to a mind under the distressing moral
influences of grief, anxiety, or disappointment,--so frequently the
precursors of disease,--is too apparent to need any expatiatory remarks
on the subject; but we would particularly remind the valetudinarian who
naturally, may be tempted to a frequent enjoyment of the prevailing
sunshine of the winters of Touraine, that more, than an apparently
sufficient warmth of clothing is necessary for such occasions; for,
when the still powerful rays of the sun occasionally become suddenly
obscured by clouds, or after that luminary has disappeared below the
horizon, a rather formidable transition from a comparatively high to a
low temperature is here the common result. The proper time for such
persons to take exercise at this season of the year, is between twelve
and three o'clock.
Nothing conduces more to a healthful action of the digestive functions,
a free circulation of the blood, and the due performances of the various
secretions, than a sufficiency of _daily walking exercise_, indeed than
the neglect of it, a more common predisposing cause of disease does not
exist:--a congestive state of particular organs, an impaired action of
the muscles of respiration thereby inducing a tendency to consumption;
and habitual cold feet, are among the multitudinous evils emanating from
a listless and sedentary mode of life.
To persons addicted to travelling or who are necessarily much exposed to
atmospheric vicissitudes, we would particularly recommend the
hydropathic treatment, or perhaps more properly, what Dr Johnson terms
the "_Calido-frigid sponging, or lavation_."
This consists in sponging the face, throat, and upper part of the chest,
night and morning, with _hot_ water, and then immediately with _cold_
water. Children also should be habituated to this sponging all over the
body, as the means of inuring them to, and securing them from, the
injuries produced by atmospheric vicissitudes. It is the best
preservative against face-aches, toothaches (hot and cold water being
alternately used to rinse the mouth), earaches, catarrhs, etc., so
frequent and distressing in England. But its paramount virtue is that of
preserving many a constitution from pulmonary consumption, the causes of
which are often laid in repeated colds, and in the susceptibility to
atmospheric impressions.
Invalids, on their arrival, should also pay great attention to their
diet and regimen.
WINES.
The wines of this country, should at first be but sparingly taken, for,
on account of their acidity, an ordinary use of them at the outset, will
frequently occasion considerable derangement of the digestive functions,
but when persons become sufficiently accustomed to them, they constitute
a light and wholesome beverage.
It is indeed worthy of remark that the wines of France, rank before
those of other countries for their _Purely vinous_ qualities, and so
multitudinous are their diversities, that it is confidently affirmed
there is no variety in the world which might not find an approximation
to some one or another of her growths, and which invariably are
manufactured according to well-fixed scientific principles.
The wines grown near Tours, are divided into three classes, namely, what
is called _rouge noble_, _vin du Cher_, and _rouge commun_.
Those of Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, Joue, Saint-Cyr, Chambray, and
Saint-Avertin, are the most esteemed growths of Touraine.
The _Champigny_ of Richelieu, and _Clos-Baudouin_ of Vouvray and
Rochecorbon, are also much in request. These red wines if of a genuine
quality, are remarkable for their flavour and soft bouquet, which is
balmy to the palate, and moderately taken are wholesome and
exhilarating.
The price of the best Bourgueil is from one hundred and thirty francs
to one hundred and fifty francs per barique, of about three hundred and
fifty bottles; and the Joue and Chambray from eighty to ninety francs
per barique. Some tolerable effervescing white wines are produced in the
neighbourhood of Tours, the prices of which are a little under the red,
but they are for the most part heady and treacherous, and want the
perfume and vinosity of Champagne.
The highly esteemed rose coloured champagne may be purchased for seven
francs per bottle, very tolerable may be had for three francs, and the
recently, and most successfully _Champagnized_ red Joue for two francs.
A very good effervescing wine is grown on an extensive scale at
Villandry, about twelve miles from Tours, and which is exported in
large quantities to Russia.
Of the sounder, most delicate and _recherche_ of the red wines to be
readily obtained at Tours, we may particularly enumerate Bordeaux--which
even when prepared for the English markets, still possesses the fine
qualities of the pure wine;--and Burgundy, of which, the Romanee
Saint-Vivant, and Romanee Conti, are the best and most perfect. It may
also be observed that the _vin cremant d'Ay_ which is the least frothy
and fullest bodied of the effervescing wines, is held in high repute,
being grateful and stomachic.
The Champagne wines are divided into sparkling (_mousseux_), demi
sparkling (_demi-mousseux_), and still wines (_non mousseux_). Their
effervescence is owing to the _carbonic acid gas_, produced in the
process of fermentation. And we are told that as this gas is produced in
the cask or (as more quickly) in the bottle, the saccharine and
tartarous principles are decomposed.
If the latter principle predominates, the wine effervesces strongly, but
is weak; if the saccharine principle be considerable and the alcohol
found in sufficient quantity to limit its decomposition, the quality is
good. Wine of moderate effervescence is invariably selected by
connoisseurs in Champagne, and such wine carries the best price.
Of the still class, a wine put into bottles when about ten or twelve
months old designated, _ptisannes_ of Champagne, is greatly recommended
as aperient and diuretic.
The champagne wines are light in quality in respect to spirit, the
average of alcohol in the generality of them, according to professor
Brande, being but 12.61 per cent.
It is a remarkable and well ascertained fact, that the alcohol in wine
combined in the _natural way_, when drank in that state, is not
productive of those complaints of the liver, and other diseases, which
arise from drinking the brandied wines of Portugal, in which the _spirit
is foreign_. The union of the alcohol, being mingled with the other
ingredients of the wine by artificial means, is never perfect, and is
beyond calculation more pernicious than the strongest natural product.
The light wines of France may not on first acquaintance prove so
relishing or pleasant to the English palate accustomed to adulterated
or brandied wines; they however in reality, not only impart a
cheerfulness and exhilaration, a kind of pleasant easy buoyancy entirely
different from what arises from the use of port, or the spirituous
heavier wines but have when taken largely a much less injurious effect
upon the constitution.
This remark would perhaps seem more strictly to apply to the wines made
for home consumption, as a small per centage of Brandy and syrup of
raisins are generally mingled with the French wines to please the
foreign palate.
The generous juice of the grape, was undoubtedly bestowed upon man by
his benificent Creator, to impart health and vigour to his physical
energies, and a wholesome cheerfulness to his soul; and if he would
wish to avoid enervating the one or brutalizing the other, he will do
well to eschew all "mixed wine", which before the period of its
scriptural denunciation to the present, has ever and anon manifested
itself in the "living temples" of its besotted votaries in the character
of indigestion, apoplexy, dropsy, gout, delirium, tremours, and a long
train of diseases.
"Strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise";
but _pure_ wine upon a _healthy_ stomach, is grateful and precious as
the light of truth and the exercise of discretion, to a sound and
well-regulated mind.[B]
ROUTES.
Such are the facilities for travelling afforded by the two countries,
that a journey may now be performed with ease and comfort between London
and Tours, in the short space of fifty hours! being a distance of about
four hundred miles. This is to be effected by the railway from the
metropolis to Southampton, and thence by the splendid steam packets to
Havre, from which place a well appointed _malle-poste_ daily runs to
Tours.[C]
The nearest way from Havre to Tours, being a distance of about one
hundred and sixty miles, is by Honfleur, Lizieux, Alencon and Le Mans,
which diligences regularly perform. But perhaps the most picturesque
routes are by way of Rouen. The post road from Havre to Rouen, along the
northern banks of the Seine, frequently presents the most beautiful and
varied prospects; but if possible, the picturesque scenery which
successively presents itself in an ascent by steam vessel up the Seine
to Rouen is of a more exquisitely charming character. Passing between
Harfleur and Honfleur, which are pleasantly situated on the opposite
elevated slopes, near the mouth of the river, a small but most beautiful
bay presents itself bounded by a series of gently rising, well wooded
hills, occasionally decorated with a spacious mansion, or bespangled
with neat cottages and elegant villas. On approaching Quillebeuf, near
which there is a spot, said to exceed in picturesque beauty the banks of
the Rhine, the river becomes narrower, and as we continue to follow its
exceedingly tortuous course, a rapid succession of lovely sylvan scenery
gratifies the eye.
The heights which border the Seine, and which are constituted of the
chalk formation, are deeply furrowed by a continuous series of
transverse vallies, forming a succession of rounded elevations, which
together, present a remarkable natural phenomena, well worthy the
particular attention of the speculative geologist. Many of these heights
are clad with a rich garb of foliage, as are also most of their
concomitant vales, in some of which a pretty neat village is
sequesteredly ensconced, while its neighbouring hills are adorned by a
chateau, or the semblance of some noble ruin, in the bold indentations
of a grey rocky precipice peering through dense masses of foliage.
As the vicinity of Rouen is approached, the opposite hills gradually
expand, leaving at their base an extensive plain of luxuriant pastures
and waving corn fields, around which the Seine winds in graceful folds,
till, on reaching the environs of Rouen, it encircles islands of the
richest verdure. At this point, the ancient capital of Normandy appears
in view, with its venerable temples, noble buildings, quays, and hosts
of sea and river craft; the whole being surrounded by an expansive
amphitheatre of thickly timbered hills.
The distance from Havre to Rouen by land is fifty-three miles, but up
the Seine it is about eighty miles; the extra length however of the
journey occasioned by the extremely indirect course of the river, is
amply compensated for by the exquisite and ever varying prospects
afforded by the passage up the Seine.
Another extremely interesting and convenient route to Tours might be
pointed out, to such as could bear the fatigues of a lengthened voyage
and long land trip, by way of the channel islands to Saint-Malo, and
thence by diligence, through the romantic primary districts of Britanny,
to Rennes and Nantes, the chief place of the department of
Loire-Inferieure, and one of the richest and most commercial towns of
France; it is situated on the right banks of the Loire, at the
confluence of the Indre and the Severe. From this place the traveller
may reach Tours by the regular conveyances, through Angers and Saumur;
or, by ascending the Loire in one of the neat steam packets which
perform regular trips between Nantes and Orleans: the fare by which to
Tours is but twelve francs, though the distance thus performed is
upwards of one hundred and forty miles. The land journey which is about
one hundred and thirty miles, is extremely diversified and pleasing, but
that by water is of surpassing beauty; the delighted voyager wends his
way where many a verdant isle smiles amid the stream, through an endless
variety of lake-like scenery, enriched on either hand in the highest
degree by rocky escarpments, and gently rising grounds clad with
vineyards, and numerous other choice productions of the vegetable
kingdom, now receding so as to form an expansive plain of verdant
pastures, and anon abruptly projecting with their lovely sylvan burdens
into the very centre of the broad and glittering stream.
In closing these few descriptive remarks on the character of the most
prominent routes to Tours, from northern France, we must not omit to
remind the invalided especially, that the one from Dover to Calais, or
to Boulogne, and thence to Paris, Orleans, and Blois, is perhaps in many
cases, to be preferred on account of the _shortness_ of the sea passage;
and although one of a circuitous character, it necessarily presents many
natural and artificial features of stirring interest and beauty.
TOURS.
The city of Tours, may be divided into two compartments, the _ancient_
and the modern.
The modern portion is no less distinguished for its neatness and
elegance, than is the ancient for its antique character, and the number
of monuments it contains, illustrative of the histories of remote ages.
Tours, now head quarters of the department of Indre-et-Loire, was before
the revolution, the capital of Touraine, and the seat of the governors;
it is one of the most ancient archbishoprics of France, and the station
of the fourth military division.
Chroniclers have never been able to give a precise date and name to the
foundation and the founder of Tours.
When _Caesar_ made his expedition into Gaul, it was the _Civitas Turonum_
so often mentioned in the commentaries of the conquering historian.
Conquest, however, gave the city another name, and the Romans called it
Cessarodunum. It fell alternately into the power of the Goths and the
Francs. In 732 Charles-Martel gained under its walls a celebrated
victory over the Saracens, who attracted by the _mildness of the
climate_ tried to fix their wandering tents in its smiling plains: but
it was only in 1202 after having suffered all the miseries of barbarism
that Tours was at last reunited to the crown of France.
This city was become so important by its central position and the
resources of its environs, that in the space of less than a century,
from 1470 to 1506, the states general assembled in it three times. Henry
3rd, pressed by the League, transferred the parliament to it in 1587.
If we believe the ancient chroniclers whom Froissart and Monstrelet
copied, the city of Tours had a much more ancient origin. It is to a
great prince named Turnus, who after the siege of Troy came into Gaul
and died not far from this city, where, say these chroniclers, his tomb
has long been seen, that Tours owes its origin and its name.
Tours and its neighbourhood afford many resources for the active and
agreeable employment of the mind. It has long been pre-eminently
distinguished for the _agremens_ of its society. Elegance and urbanity
characterize the demeanour of the native noblesse; the British residents
and visitants are composed of the most respectable grades, amongst whom,
a reciprocation of friendly intercourse is cherished with perhaps more
than the ordinary assiduity so generally productive of affable
association among the English abroad.
The French language is considered to be spoken in its greatest purity in
Touraine, a desideratum of much consequence to persons who resort to
France for the education of their children, and it may also be proper to
remark that there is a classical establishment for young gentlemen in
the immediate vicinity of the city. Tours also possesses a library
containing some valuable MSS., some of which are of the sixth century,
a museum of painting and natural history, a college, a society of
agriculture, science, art, and belles-lettres, a theatre, excellent
baths, and extensive umbrageous promenades. There are two English
episcopal chapels, one in Tours, and the other but recently opened is
situated on the Tranchee; an English club has long been established;
which is now supported with great spirit and liberality, affording all
the usual attractions of such institutions, and where many of the
English newspapers are daily received.
The theatre is frequently open, and balls and routs prevail during the
winter season. The hotels are replete with every comfort and
accommodation.
Tours also possesses an excellent English boarding house; and elegant
houses, villas and chateaux, well furnished, are to be readily obtained
in the town and its environs. All kinds of provisions are exceedingly
plentiful, which with the numerous fruits and wines are to be obtained
at very moderate prices.
SPORTING.
The lovers of rural sports and pastimes, may find much to interest them
in this and the neighbouring departments. The Loire and the Cher afford
excellent diversion to the angler, and occasionally to the fowler, being
during the autumnal and winter months sometimes frequented by large
flocks of aquatic birds. The wild boar and the _chevreuil_, a small but
elegant species of deer, are to be found in the forest; the vast
intermediate tracts of arable land are however for the most part but
thinly stocked with game.
CHATEAUX.
The ancient chateaux within an easy distance of Tours merit the
attention of the antiquarian, some of them possessing historical
associations of a highly interesting character. The principal are the
chateaux of Loches, Chenonceaux, Chinon, and Amboise; of which
respectively, for the gratification of those who feel a pleasure in
journeying to gaze upon these sombre and for the most part dilapidated
monitors of the "instability of all sublunary things," we will proceed
to enter upon a brief description.
LOCHES.
The vast fortress of Loches,--which is twenty five miles from
Tours,--has been the residence of many of the kings of France, since it
was occupied by Philip Augustus.
Within the range of its former precincts the Tomb of the famous Agnes
Sorel in black marble may still be seen. As may also the dungeon in
which Ludovico Sforce duke of Milan was confined in 1500.
The castle, or rather prison, which it is said was founded during the
Roman domination in this part of the country, presents some striking
specimens of its pristine magnificence.
We are informed that in this abode of terror, there were dungeons under
dungeons, some of them unknown even to the keepers themselves; men were
frequently doomed to pass the remainder of their lives here, breathing
impure air and subsisting on bread and water. At this formidable castle
were also those horrible places of confinement called _cages_, in which
the wretched prisoner could neither stand upright nor stretch himself at
length.
The celebrated cardinal Balue was confined here by order of Louis
11th, for many years in one of these cages. The Duke of Alencon,
Charles de Melun and Philippe de Commines were also imprisoned in this
fortress. It was successively occupied by Charles 7th, Louis 11th,
Charles 8th, Louis 12th, Francis 1st, Henry 2nd and Charles
9th.
CHINON.
THE CHATEAU OF CHINON, which in ancient times was a place of great
strength, it is said was once composed of three distinct castles,
erected at three different epochs. Ten kings of France had occasionally
made it their place of residence. Henry the second, and Richard the
First died here. Joan of Arc had an interview with Charles the 7th at
this place; the remains of the room in which it occurred are still
shewn. But a few dismantled towers and dilapidated walls now alone
remain to mark the elevated site of the magnificent superstructure,
which in days of yore proudly towered above the lovely sylvan scenery of
the fertile vale of the Vienne.
Chinon is about thirty miles from Tours.
AMBOISE.
THE CASTLE OF AMBOISE is a noble structure of great antiquity; and from
the beauty of its elevated situation on the southern banks of the Loire,
and the drive to it from Tours, of about twelve miles, being of a
romantic and very interesting character, it is an object of much
attraction to the general Tourist.
Constantine rebuilt the fort soon after its destruction by Diocletian.
Charles the 8th, resided at this his birth place many years prior to
his ascending the French throne; and in 1498 he here expired.
The two large towers which form a protected communication between the
castle and the town below, were built by this monarch. One of the towers
is remarkable for its internal spiral roadway, up which cavalry may
ascend four abreast.
Louis 12th, Francis 1st, Henry 2nd, and Francis 2nd
respectively contributed towards the improvement and adornment of the
castle, and which by an act of Louis 16th, became the property of the
Orleans family.
The small detached chapel dedicated to St.-Hubert is much admired for
its sculptural embellishments in alto-relievo.
The pleasure grounds attached to the castle which are partially laid out
in the English fashion, are extensive and diversified, and the view of
the adjacent country from the terraces is remarkable for its picturesque
beauty.