The customary paved roads having in this department as in many other provinces of France been broken up, and superseded by well formed macadamized ones, trips into the surrounding country can be performed with as much ease and facility as is afforded by the unequalled highways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 Orléans, offer every facility for agreeable excursions.
SOCIETY.
Table of Contents 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 circumscribed 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 arrondisements 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 shores, 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, spaciousness and peacefulness, about this his foreign abode, which comports well with his native feelings, and closely assimilates 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, circumscribed 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, constituting a series of practical illustrations 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.
Table of Contents In this rapid enumeration of the more prominently interesting features of Indre-et-Loire, it would appear unpardonable were we to pass 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 amusement, 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 Amentaceæ, 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. Hypericum-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 pyrenaicum. Black centaury. Centaurea Nigra. Forget me not. Myosotis palustris. 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. Sparticum scoparium. And the Furze. Ulex Europæus. 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 cyanus. Red Poppy. Papaver Rhoa. Venus's Mirror. Campanula speculum. Corn Cockle. 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,...
