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  Castles and Chateaux of Old Touraine
  and the Loire Country




  _WORKS OF FRANCIS MILTOUN_

  _The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top,
  profusely illustrated, $2.50_

  _Rambles on the Riviera_
  _Rambles in Normandy_
  _Rambles in Brittany_
  _The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine_
  _The Cathedrals of Northern France_
  _The Cathedrals of Southern France_
  _The Cathedrals of Italy_ (_In preparation_)

  _The following, 1 vol., square octavo, cloth, gilt top, profusely
  illustrated. $3.00_

  _Castles and Chateaux of Old Touraine and the Loire Country_

  _L. C. PAGE & COMPANY New England Building, Boston, Mass._




[Illustration: A PEASANT GIRL OF TOURAINE]




    Castles and Chateaux
            OF
        OLD TOURAINE
    AND THE LOIRE COUNTRY

      BY FRANCIS MILTOUN

    Author of "Rambles in Normandy," "Rambles in Brittany,"
    "Rambles on the Riviera," etc.

    _With Many Illustrations
    Reproduced from paintings made on the spot_

      BY BLANCHE MCMANUS

      [Illustration]

          BOSTON
    L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
           1906





       _Copyright, 1906_
   BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
         (Incorporated)

     _All rights reserved_

   First Impression, June, 1906

         _COLONIAL PRESS_
   _Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co._
        _Boston, U. S. A._




[Illustration: Ed VELAY]




By Way of Introduction


This book is not the result of ordinary conventional rambles, of
sightseeing by day, and flying by night, but rather of leisurely
wanderings, for a somewhat extended period, along the banks of the Loire
and its tributaries and through the countryside dotted with those
splendid monuments of Renaissance architecture which have perhaps a more
appealing interest for strangers than any other similar edifices
wherever found.

Before this book was projected, the conventional tour of the chateau
country had been "done," Baedeker, Joanne and James's "Little Tour" in
hand. On another occasion Angers, with its almost inconceivably real
castellated fortress, and Nantes, with its memories of the "Edict" and
"La Duchesse Anne," had been tasted and digested _en route_ to a certain
little artist's village in Brittany.

On another occasion, when we were headed due south, we lingered for a
time in the upper valley, between "the little Italian city of Nevers"
and "the most picturesque spot in the world"--Le Puy.

But all this left certain ground to be covered, and certain gaps to be
filled, though the author's note-books were numerous and full to
overflowing with much comment, and the artist's portfolio was already
bulging with its contents.

So more note-books were bought, and, following the genial Mark Twain's
advice, another fountain pen and more crayons and sketch-books, and the
author and artist set out in the beginning of a warm September to fill
those gaps and to reduce, if possible, that series of rambles along the
now flat and now rolling banks of the broad blue Loire to something like
consecutiveness and uniformity; with what result the reader may judge.




Contents


  CHAPTER                                                 PAGE

  BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION                                     v

  I. A GENERAL SURVEY                                        1

  II. THE ORLEANNAIS                                        30

  III. THE BLAISOIS AND THE SOLOGNE                         56

  IV. CHAMBORD                                              94

  V. CHEVERNY, BEAUREGARD, AND CHAUMONT                    110

  VI. TOURAINE: THE GARDEN SPOT OF FRANCE                  128

  VII. AMBOISE                                             148

  VIII. CHENONCEAUX                                        171

  IX. LOCHES                                               188

  X. TOURS AND ABOUT THERE                                 203

  XI. LUYNES AND LANGEAIS                                  221

  XII. AZAY-LE-RIDEAU, USSE, AND CHINON                    241

 