Along France's river of romance: . Below Tavers the Loire makes broad and gracefulcurves, skirts the edge of Beauce a short while longer,and then glides beneath the little hills of the left bank,after passing by the small village of St. Laurent-des-Eaux, with its quaint houses with moss-grown , some miles farther down, is anotherpretty old village, and on the right bank is the townof Mer, which we stopped to explore. Mer is a pleasantenough little place, but does not give anything like thecompact impression of Beaugency ; nor has it had sointeresting a history. Such import
Along France's river of romance: . Below Tavers the Loire makes broad and gracefulcurves, skirts the edge of Beauce a short while longer,and then glides beneath the little hills of the left bank,after passing by the small village of St. Laurent-des-Eaux, with its quaint houses with moss-grown , some miles farther down, is anotherpretty old village, and on the right bank is the townof Mer, which we stopped to explore. Mer is a pleasantenough little place, but does not give anything like thecompact impression of Beaugency ; nor has it had sointeresting a history. Such importance as it can boastseems due to its various delightful brooks which glidequick and clear by the backs of its perfumed flower-gardens and, incidentally, turn the wheels of its has a great market covered by a square roof, anda church with an interesting tower; these are itsprincipal monuments. For myself I rememberchiefly its back gardens. The Loire now leaves oncemore the slopes of the left bank to bathe the foot of the. 208 THE LOIRE plateau of Beauce, and in a short while reflects in itswaters the pretty village of Cours, whose church andchateau are enclosed in the park of Menars. WithMenars begins that series of chateaux de la Loire, whichhas made Touraine one of the most famous centres inFrance for tourists. The house is said to have beenpartly designed by Mme. de Pompadour (whose brotherwas made Marquis de Menars). But whether shecollaborated with the architect in the making of it, ornot, Menars is a stately and beautiful house, and isfully worthy of the Pompadours admirable taste, and ofa discrimination which has left its mark on a wholeperiod of French art. Even the monocle detachedhimself from the Mercure de France to examinethe place. As afternoon faded to evening, we slipped down theriver to Blois, seven miles farther on ; between long,sandy islands; between banks fringed with straightpoplars on one hand, and vine-clad slopes on the other;through a large gen
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidalongfrances, bookyear1913
