Produced by Elizaveta Shevyakhova, Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) Castles and Châteaux of Old Touraine and the Loire Country _WORKS OF FRANCIS MILTOUN_ _The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, profusely illustrated, $2.50_ _Rambles on the Riviera_ _Rambles in Normandy_ _Rambles in Brittany_ _The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine_ _The Cathedrals of Northern France_ _The Cathedrals of Southern France_ _The Cathedrals of Italy_ (_In preparation_) _The following, 1 vol., square octavo, cloth, gilt top, profusely illustrated. $3.00_ _Castles and Châteaux of Old Touraine and the Loire Country_ _L. C. PAGE & COMPANY New England Building, Boston, Mass._ [Illustration: A PEASANT GIRL OF TOURAINE] Castles and Châteaux OF OLD TOURAINE AND THE LOIRE COUNTRY BY FRANCIS MILTOUN Author of "Rambles in Normandy," "Rambles in Brittany," "Rambles on the Riviera," etc. _With Many Illustrations Reproduced from paintings made on the spot_ BY BLANCHE MCMANUS [Illustration] BOSTON L. C. PAGE & COMPANY 1906 _Copyright, 1906_ BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY (Incorporated) _All rights reserved_ First Impression, June, 1906 _COLONIAL PRESS_ _Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co._ _Boston, U. S. A._ [Illustration: Ed VELAY] By Way of Introduction This book is not the result of ordinary conventional rambles, of sightseeing by day, and flying by night, but rather of leisurely wanderings, for a somewhat extended period, along the banks of the Loire and its tributaries and through the countryside dotted with those splendid monuments of Renaissance architecture which have perhaps a more appealing interest for strangers than any other similar edifices wherever found. Before this book was projected, the conventional tour of the château country had been "done," Baedeker, Joanne and James's "Little Tour" in hand. On another occasion Angers, with its almost inconceivably real castellated fortress, and Nantes, with its memories of the "Edict" and "La Duchesse Anne," had been tasted and digested _en route_ to a certain little artist's village in Brittany. On another occasion, when we were headed due south, we lingered for a time in the upper valley, between "the little Italian city of Nevers" and "the most picturesque spot in the world"--Le Puy. But all this left certain ground to be covered, and certain gaps to be filled, though the author's note-books were numerous and full to overflowing with much comment, and the artist's portfolio was already bulging with its contents.