Memoranda on Tours and Touraine Part 3

Old tottering ruins and dismantled Towers may of themselves under many circ.u.mstances be justly deemed very picturesque objects, and merit to be valued accordingly, but to preserve and venerate _all_ solely for their historical a.s.sociations, which at best, are but too frequently the dark and ignominious doings of a clandestine and barbarous age, would seem to argue a morbid sensibility, more befitting the devoted and infatuated antiquarian, than the true and enlightened philosopher who sees language in stones and G.o.d in everything.

There are a few other ancient Chateaux and some inconsiderable architectural remains in the arrondis.e.m.e.nt, but as they present few or no features of general interest, it would be a work of supererogation to particularize them; we cannot however close these brief notices without particularly adverting to a very laudable and attractive modern inst.i.tution, situated at the pretty sequestered village of Mettray, about three miles from Tours. And this we shall do with the more pleasure, as its philanthropic object, judicious development of its practical plans, moral and religious administration, would do honor to any nation in the world.

The purport of this Inst.i.tution, which is denominated an "Agricultural Colony", is to reform juvenile delinquents; and by the inculcation of moral and religious principles, aided by sober methodical and industrious habits, to effect the great work of penitentiary reform. The founders and devoted benefactors of the colony are Mr de Metz and viscount de Bretigneres. These benevolent gentlemen took the sublime idea of such a project from the reform colony founded by the worthy and excellent Hickerr, at Horn near Hambourg in 1834. And they have so zealously and skilfully executed their designs, as to have already realized in all essential particulars, a beautiful model of their admirable prototype.

The colony is composed of a certain number of uniformly built houses;--Each house contains forty children, divided into two sections, and forming one family, headed by a chief, who has subject to his orders two under teachers.

The first Sunday of each month, a colonist is elected in the respective sections, who takes the t.i.tle of elder Brother; and serves as mediator between the masters and the pupils. The houses are erected (30 feet) distant from each other, and are united by sheds. The ground floor of the "Maison de la Ville de Paris" occupied by the family A,--is organized like the work shops at Horn, it contains work rooms of tailors, shoemakers, saddlers, etc., and the rest are arranged in nearly the same manner. The house of Count d'Aurches on the ground floor contains six prison cells on the first story, the director's room, and that of the agent of the agricultural works. On the second story, the office and the lodging room of the accountable agent,--a forge and a braziers work shop for the service of the house, are established under the fourth shed. The adjacent large building is intended for a cla.s.s of 300 scholars; the chaplain and the professor of gymnastics occupy the house opposite those of the colonists. A handsome chapel has recently been added to the establishment.

The instruction given to the colonists is regulated by the station they are likely to fill in the world.

For the suppression of vice, a tribunal composed of the colonists inscribed on the honourable list, is deputed to try serious offences, the directors reserving to themselves the right of softening those judgments which may be too severe.

The heads of each family (young men of irreproachable conduct, selected on the formation of the colony from poor but respectable familyies) conduct their children to the fields, and the work rooms, which are separated into several divisions by a part.i.tion of a yard in height; by the manner of which distribution a single chief can at the same time overlook the works of the whole. After the ordinary occupations of the day, the children return to their respective families, where it is sought to instil in their hardened minds those affections and good feelings which the carelessness or depravity of their parents had blighted.

When a fresh pupil arrives at the establishment, he is placed under the peculiar care of an intelligent person who studies his disposition, and who each day gives to the director an account of the results of his observations; after a certain period of trial, the child is admitted in a family, where is performed a religious ceremony, and a sermon preached to prove the blessing of finding a safe asylum after many temptations;--it is then the new comer is reinstated in the eyes of the colony and its directors; who take it on themselves, if he conducts himself well, to place him, and to appoint him a zealous patron who enjoys public esteem.

Such is the philanthropic nature of the system adopted in this admirable inst.i.tution, already productive of the happiest results; and so judiciously and efficaciously have the economical and industrial departments been conducted, that it is confidently expected, the colony will in two years support itself.

The visitor will he highly gratified by a trip to this establishment, the _tout ensemble_ of which on a fine summer's day, particularly, is one of surpa.s.sing loveliness. Its pretty white Swisslike buildings are completely environed by woods, groves, vineyards, and tastefully decorated pleasure grounds, which, viewed as the hallowed precincts of practical humanity and piety, are highly calculated to inspire the reflective mind with the most pleasing thoughts and emotions.

Peaceful abode! with rural beauty rife, And charms that smooth the rugged paths of life; Here human aid a.s.sumes a power divine, And _Virtue's_ fix'd her gentle, hallowed shrine; Erring, untutor'd youth, enraptur'd pause Mid wild career, to recognize her laws.

_Vice_ with her direful train abash'd retires, Nor dares to light her soul-consuming fires; _Industry_ with her sober, powerful arm, Guards the young mind, and keeps the pa.s.sions calm: While benign _religion_, with sweet controul, Gently compels, the wild and wayward soul To taste the various joys her truths impart, And kiss the rod that rectifies the heart.

The customary paved roads having in this department as in many other provinces of France been broken up, and superseded by well formed macadamized ones, trips into the surrounding country can be performed with as much ease and facility as is afforded by the unequalled highways of England.

The steam packets which navigate the river as far down as Nantes, and up to Orleans, offer every facility for agreeable excursions.

SOCIETY.

It is presumed that in closing these multifarious notices, a few words touching the social habits and condition of the little _coterie_ of English located at Tours, may prove acceptable to the general reader, as well as to persons who contemplate an abode within its interesting precincts.

The established etiquette is, for those who have resolved on a period of residence, _first_ to call upon such of the British residents as they may feel disposed to visit, which acts of courtesy, are, generally speaking, the prelude to a reciprocity of agreeable and social intercourse.

An air of high respectability, and elegance, is characteristic of the Anglo-French circle of acquaintance pervading Tours and its environs; the newly arrived man of social habits and fashion, may if he chooses, soon possess the happy consciousness of feeling, that, though distant from friends and native land, he has his customary social comforts, and habitual pleasures and refinements of life, completely at his command.

It is true, these enjoyments exist in a limited and circ.u.mscribed form, but for this very reason, facility of intercourse and goodfellowship, are distinguished by an acuteness of character, rarely to be found in the far more expansive arrondis.e.m.e.nts of English society at home.

The warm, generous heart of the Englishman, like the concentrated rays of the genial orb of day, here, glows with the greater intensity on all who come within the sphere of its vivifying influence.

Behold him seated at his hospitable board, which groans beneath the cheapened luxuries and substantial fare, alike of his native and his adopted land, and gladdened by the presence of his selected countrymen, who perhaps like himself, have quitted their native sh.o.r.es, to seek for renewed pleasure, wonted repose, health, or it may be economy, abroad.

The sparkling champagne speedily thaws the icy formula which too often envelopes and conceals the best, inherent feelings of his nature, and in the exuberance of his zeal for the universal cultivation of the _social principle_, and his lively sense of national toleration and liberality, he rises to toast, with equal sincerity, the beloved Queen of old England, or the citizen King of France.

And in what a pretty sylvan retreat has he snugly domiciled himself!--his white freestone villa, which presents a pleasing display of architectural elegance, is replete with every internal comfort; a smiling _parterre_, decked with many a fine specimen of the stately cypress, a garden stored with rare and luscious fruits, and the generous vine every where hanging in graceful festoons, are the most prominent adjuncts of his sequestered retirement.

There is in short, an exclusiveness, a completeness, s.p.a.ciousness and peacefulness, about this his foreign abode, which comports well with his native feelings, and closely a.s.similates with the home of his childhood.

Such are the brighter parts of a pleasing picture, and it would hardly appear fair, were we to recount them without a glance at its darker shades, which, circ.u.mscribed like some of the former; are also of an intense character, and in the busy workings of the ill disposed curiosity monger, often appear, as the concentrated essence of bold conjecture. In plain terms, here, as in other small communities, the condition, and character of individuals, are constantly subjected to the microscopic investigations of the vigilant, and not over scrupulous retailers of flying news, and _interesting on dits_.

The good feeling of the well-bred, and liberal minded Frenchman, is ever here, manifested towards the English, in a variety of pleasing demonstrations, const.i.tuting a series of practical ill.u.s.trations of that native politeness, for which he is pre-eminently distinguished.

And no one can, we think, be a spectator of these mutual good offices, and growing interchange of kindly feeling, between the subjects of two nations which have so long been led to regard each other as inveterate foes,--without rejoicing at the liberal and peaceful policy which maintains inviolate the present order of things. Beneath its fostering and genial sway, the acceleration of the respective national interests and energies, the reciprocal cultivation of the arts and sciences, the advancement of true religion and benevolence, and the consolidation of domestic happiness, though amongst the most prominent, are but a meagre catalogue of the mutual benefits, which the two neighbouring nations, cannot fail to realize, as the blessings of a _permanent peace_.

BOTANY OF TOURAINE.

In this rapid enumeration of the more prominently interesting features of Indre-et-Loire, it would appear unpardonable were we to pa.s.s over wholly unnoticed, the Botanical productions of the department, the great variety and successful culture of which, have long since obtained for it the enviable _sobriquet_ of the _garden of France_. And perhaps it behoves us the more especially to glance at it in an essay of this character, as the study of Botany has become so favorite and fashionable a pursuit, that scarcely a person of any pretensions to elegant taste, or to refined intellectual occupations, traverses a new or distant region without endeavouring to increase the interesting riches of his _Hortus siccus_: or at least to bestow some attention to its natural floral and arborescent productions.

It is justly observed that a Botanical taste, of all sources of amus.e.m.e.nt, is, to an invalid, perhaps the most desirable. When exercise is the only object it becomes irksome even in the loveliest scenery; the Botanist is however beguiled onwards with a never ceasing fascination, yet so leisurely as not to induce fatigue; and when his strength is unequal to excursions of higher attainment, he can find beauties in the humblest paths.

Frenchmen take much delight in their gardens, which are often very extensive and characterized by great neatness and uniformity, indeed in the majority of instances regularity is carried to excess;--clipped hedges, alleys laid out in straight lines, flower beds tortured into fantastic shapes, trees cut in the form of pyramids, birds, animals, etc., are the order of the day. The principles of good taste are however beginning to manifest themselves in the adoption of a more natural and elaborate style in the laying out of grounds which surround many of the more modern mansions, etc. And they are frequently enriched by choice and rare collections of exotic plants. Among the most conspicuous of the arborescent kinds, which adorn the pleasure grounds of such establishments, may be named the cypress de la Louisiane, the Pinus Silvestris, the graceful Weeping-willow, and Acacia, which here grow to great perfection; the Arbutus, Bay tree, Laurel, Fig tree, Chesnut, and Majestic Cedar of Lebanon. They also frequently contain some fine specimens of the beautiful family of mimosas, a variety of Pelargoniums, with the elegant Coronille, and Annas.

Between four hundred and five hundred plants are said to be cultivated in the gardens. And upwards of twelve hundred wild plants have been enumerated as belonging to Touraine, besides the _cryptogamia_, such as the mosses, ferns, liverworts, and mushrooms.

In the woods and forests are found from one hundred and fifty to two hundred plants; amongst which may be mentioned the genera _Amentaceae_, which flower and blossom. In the month of April the woods are bespangled with the violet. _Viola._ Ficaria. Wind-flower. _Anemone nemorosa._ Lung-wort. _Pulmonaria Officinalis._ etc. In May and June we there also find the _Orchis. Mellitis._ Periwinkle. _Vinca Major._ Hyacinth or Blue Bell. _Hyacinthus non-scriptus._ Hare Bell. _Campanula rotundifolia._ St. John's Wort. _Hyperic.u.m-pulchrum._ Crane's Bill. _Geranium Molle._ Bitter vetch. _Orobus tuberosus._ Strawberry leaved cinque-foil.

_Potentilla Frargariastrum._ Wood Angelica. _Angelica Sylvestris._ The star of Bethlehem. _Ornithogalum pyrenaic.u.m._ Black centaury. _Centaurea Nigra._ Forget me not. _Myosotis pal.u.s.tris._ The above are to be found in the Woods of Chatenay, etc. in the immediate neighbourhood of Tours.

On the commons and higher arid tracts, are seen the cross leaved Heath.

_Erica Tetralix._ Fine leaved Heath. _Erica cineria._ Male Fern.

_Aspidium Felix Mas._ Common Broom. _Spartic.u.m scoparium._ And the Furze. _Ulex Europaeus._ When these hardy natives of the wold and the waste, happen to be grouped together, which is very commonly the case, the varied and vivid hues of their blossoms, present a striking contrast, and a very pleasing appearance.

Between two hundred and three hundred plants are common to the cultivated fields, of which, may be named, the Corn Blue Bottle.

_Centaurea cya.n.u.s._ Red Poppy. _Papaver Rhoea._ Venus's Mirror.

_Campanula speculum._ Corn c.o.c.kle. _Agrostemma Githago._ Corn Spurrey.

_Spergula Arvensis._ Common yellow Rattle. _Rhinanthus Crista-Galli._ Great White Ox Eye. _Chrysanthemum_ _Leucanthemum._ All flowering in July and August.

In the meadows which occupy the vales, subject to occasional inundations, a very great variety of plants luxuriate, consisting for the most part of the Family _Graminaceae_ amongst them may be seen shining the Pile-wort. _Ranunculus Ficaria._ Crow-foot. _Ranunculus sceleratus._ And many others of this genus. The Cuckoo flower.

_Cardamime Pratensis._ Ragged Robin. _Lychnis Floscuculi._ White Campion. _Lichnis vespertina._ Tale Red Rattle. _Pedicularis pal.u.s.tris._ Queen of the Meadows. _Spiraea Ulmaria._ _Upatoria Cannabinum._ Common Loosestrife. _Lysimachia vulgaris._ Also the _Parna.s.sia Pal.u.s.tris._, _Gentiana cruciata_, and _Colchic.u.m Autumnale._

On the surface of the Pools and Brooks, many beautiful specimens of the _Nymphaea_ are to be seen reposing, as those of the white water Lilly.

_Nymphaea Alba_, and yellow water Lilly. _Nymphaea Lutea._ On their banks may also be found the Water Iris, or Flower de Luce. _Iris Pseudacorus._--The emblem of France. The Flowering Rush. _Butomus umbellatus._ Arrow Head. _Sagittaria sagittifolia_, and Water ranunculus. _Ranunculus aquatilis._

Our limits will not admit of a further enumeration, but perhaps sufficient has been stated to signify the interesting character of the Botanical productions of the Province, and to induce the scientific visitor, or the lover of nature, to prosecute his researches through its sequestered glades and rural retreats; where in fact, he may on every hand, behold prolific nature displaying her exquisite charms, in elaborate perfections, rich profusion, and endless diversities.

Of cultivated Fruit trees, the Pear, Peach, and Prune, are justly famed for their size and richness of flavour; the Meddlar, Quince, and a great variety of choice Apple trees are thickly dispersed throughout the vineyards; some of the latter of which during the winter, present a very singular appearance, from their being often thickly studded over with the sombre tufts of the parasitical _Viscus_, or Misleto. A considerable quant.i.ty of excellent cyder is made in the neighbourhood of Tours.

The vineyards which occupy so large a portion of this district, contain a great many varieties of the vine, which circ.u.mstance, together with the prevailing difference of _soil_ and _aspect_, naturally produces wines of very various flavour and opposite qualities.

It is affirmed, that the first requisite to make good wine seems to be a peculiar quality in the soil in which the fruit is grown, more than in the species of vine itself; the second requisite to good wine is the species of plant, aided by a judicious mode of training and cultivation.

It would naturally be supposed that the wine is excellent in proportion to the size and luxuriance of the plant, but such is not the case, on the contrary, good rich soils invigorating the growth of the tree never produce even tolerable wine, but it is best as the soil is lighter and drier;--sandy, calcareous, stony and porous soils are found to be most friendly to the growth of the vine. The chalky soils particularly produce wines of great freshness and lightness.

Hence we may in a great degree account for the superiority of many of the vinous productions of the neighbourhood of Tours; on both sides of the vale of the Loire, the denudated or furrowed elevations naturally afford many genial sites, whose southern aspects are always exposed to the direct rays of the sun and which favoured situations are perhaps more prevalent on the northern banks of the river; where, as on the opposite slopes, the rather lofty chalky elevations, are mostly covered by deep acc.u.mulations of advent.i.tious and heterogeneous materials, princ.i.p.ally const.i.tuted of the debris of that cretaceous formation, and partly composing the extensive deposit termed the argile et poudinge.