. Castles and chateaux of old Touraine and the Loire country. dowed by the great richness of the fif-teenth and sixteenth centuries. One early frag-ment was entirely enveloped in the structurewhich was built by Frangois Premier, the an-cient Tour de Chateau Eegnault, or De Mou-lins, or Des Oubliettes, as it was variouslyknown, and from the outside this is no longervisible. From the platform one sees a magnificentpanorama of the city and the far-reachingLoire, which unrolls itself southward andnorthward for many leagues, its banks coveredby rich vineyards and crowned by thick forests. The build
. Castles and chateaux of old Touraine and the Loire country. dowed by the great richness of the fif-teenth and sixteenth centuries. One early frag-ment was entirely enveloped in the structurewhich was built by Frangois Premier, the an-cient Tour de Chateau Eegnault, or De Mou-lins, or Des Oubliettes, as it was variouslyknown, and from the outside this is no longervisible. From the platform one sees a magnificentpanorama of the city and the far-reachingLoire, which unrolls itself southward andnorthward for many leagues, its banks coveredby rich vineyards and crowned by thick forests. The building of Louis XII. presents its brick-faced exterior in black and red lozenge shapes,with sculptured window-frames, squarely uponthe little tree-bordered place of to-day, which The Blaisois and the Sologne 65 in other times formed a part of that magnifi-cent terrace which looked down upon the roofof the Eglise St. Nicolas, and the Jesuit Churchof the Immaculate Conception, and the silverybelt of the Loire itself. On the west f agade of this vast conglomerate. structure one sees the effigy of the porcupine,that weird symbol adopted by the family ofOrleans. The choice of this ungainly animal — in spiteof which it is most decorative in outline —was due to the first Louis, who was Due dOr-leans. In the year 1393 Louis founded the The Blaisois and the Sologne 67 Hie ubi natus erat dextro Lodoicus Olympo,Sumpsit honorata Regia sceptra manu;Felix quae tanti f ulfit lux nuntia Regis ;Gallia non alio Principe digna fuit. FAUSTUS 1498. According to an old Frencli description thisold statue was: tres beau et tres agreableainsy que tous ses portraits Iont represents,comme celui qui est au grand portail deBloys. Above rises a balustrade with fantastic gar-goyles with the pinnacles and fleurons of thewindow gables all very ornate, the wholetopped off with a roofing of slate. Blois, in its general aspect, is fascinating;but it is not sympathetic, and this is not sur-prising when one rememb
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherbosto, bookyear1906
