1440. Charles d’Orléans, on his release, returned to Blois, where his son Louis was born; afterwards King, as Louis XII., in 1498. From this time to the sixteenth century the history of Blois is the history of France. Louis XII. resided there in preference to Paris. 1514. Anne de Bretagne, his wife, died at Blois. François I. lived there during early part of his reign, leaving it later for Chambord and Fontainebleau. 1588. Duc de Guise assassinated on December 23. 1589. Catherine de Medici died a few days after the murder. After these tragic events the Kings of France disliked the château, and only one Duc d’Orléans, Gaston, brother of Louis XIII., resided there. He formed a sort of provincial court round him, and employed Mansard to build the west wing. After Gaston’s death in 1660 only two Princesses used it--Marie Casimire, widow of Sobieski, King of Poland, and the mother of Stanislas, King of Poland, who died at Blois in 1722. After this the château was abandoned, and even partly mutilated, and the Revolution continued the destruction. 1841. The château was classed as an historical monument, and its restoration has been carried out since that year. [Illustration: AMBOISE. An exceedingly picturesque town on the Loire, with its famous château conspicuous above the river.] THE ROAD TO AMBOISE There is a peculiar charm in the riparian scenery of the Loire when seen from the raised road that follows the broad river closely all the way to Tours. In the late afternoon the soft colours of the sunset sky reflected in the oily and swirling surface of the river are singularly beautiful, and looking backwards, as one leaves the town of Blois, the buildings beneath the château, the towers, and the bridge, are all transformed with a soft gold, which subdues all that is crude, and heightens every charm, in just the fashion that memory gilds the past. To the south, beyond the river, is the forest of Blois, a remnant of the medieval forests that surrounded the town, and near at hand all the trees are tufted with mistletoe, which shows up against the burnished gold of the sky as the sun drops lower and lower in the west. A suspension bridge of six spans crosses the river opposite. CHAUMONT-SUR-LOIRE The little brown-roofed village nestles by the water-side under an orange-red cliff crowned with the picturesque castle built in 1473 by Charles de Chaumont. He was a brother of the great Cardinal Georges d’Amboise, Archbishop of Rouen, who was born in the castle in 1460, and whose Cardinal’s hat can be seen in the chapel.