Along France's river of romance: . are. Perhaps there is nowhereto be met with a castle more formed to give a localpride of family than this of Polignac ; the man hardlyexists that would not feel a certain vanity at havinggiven his own name from remote antiquity to sosingular and so commanding a rock ; but, if with thename, it belonged to me, I would scarcely sell it for aprovince. The building is of such antiquity, and thesituation so romantic, that all the feudal ages pass inreview in ones imagination, by a sort of magic influence ;you recognise it for the residence of a lordly baron,who, in
Along France's river of romance: . are. Perhaps there is nowhereto be met with a castle more formed to give a localpride of family than this of Polignac ; the man hardlyexists that would not feel a certain vanity at havinggiven his own name from remote antiquity to sosingular and so commanding a rock ; but, if with thename, it belonged to me, I would scarcely sell it for aprovince. The building is of such antiquity, and thesituation so romantic, that all the feudal ages pass inreview in ones imagination, by a sort of magic influence ;you recognise it for the residence of a lordly baron,who, in an age more distant and more respectable,though, perhaps, equally barbarous, was the patriot VOREY 59 defender of his country, against the invasion andtyranny of Rome. Returning towards the Loire, the road crosses theriver by the suspension bridge near Chadrac. On theright it passes the rock-pierced village of Monteil, andabout half a mile further on, the village of Durianne,also on the right. After passing the mill on the Loire. Near Le Puy the road becomes carved out of the rock, en corniche. Itnow, in a little while, crosses the Sumene just before itsconfluence with the Loire, leaving the village of Peyre-deyre on the right. The Loire, just before Peyredeyre,makes a broad, tranquil lake surrounded by steep crags,and, farther on, with the road by its side, it enetrs thecelebrated Portes de Peyredeyre, and becomes en-cased in a narrow and very deep gorge. After about an 60 THE LOIRE hours steady walking through a country of mountain androck, sometimes bare and sometimes covered with pinesor oaks, I came to the Chateau of Lavoute, belonging tothe Polignac family. It stands at the end of a volcanicrock rising precipitously out of the river. The castle,which is long and rather narrow, dates chiefly from thefifteenth century, but it is for the most part a recon-struction, as we should say, though the French preferto call it restoration. The two flanking towers withtheir pointed r
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidalongfrances, bookyear1913
