Part 2

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.