After Chambourg hilly country begins, and in [Illustration: No. 7. TOURS TO POITIERS.] a very short time one enters the interesting old town of LOCHES The streets are narrow and picturesque, for above the stone houses there generally frowns a dark machicolated gateway, or a portion of the old town walls which surround the raised site to which the medieval town was restricted. Some changes are taking place within the walls, which are robbing the town of some of its tortuous ways and some of its glamour, and the hand of the restorer is beginning to appear on the gateways; but although the French idea of restoration is far too radical, the town will maintain its attractiveness for many years to come. Loches (pronounced with a short _o_) has an interesting history, which is worth remembering, in connection with the many remains of the Middle Ages it possesses. Under the Romans it was called _Luccæ_, and in the fifth century St. Ours founded a monastery, which was the nucleus of the town of to-day. It was defended by a château as early as the sixth century, and under Charles the Bold it became the seat of an hereditary Government. It passed by marriage to the House of Anjou, to which it belonged till 1205. 1193. John (of England) gave it to France while Richard I. was crusading. 1194. Richard retook it. 1204. Retaken by Philippe Auguste, who gave it to Dreux de Mello, Constable of France. Later on it became a State prison and a royal residence. Charles VII. came there with Agnes Sorel, who was buried in the Church of St. Ours. Louis XI. (1461-1483) enlarged and perfected the prisons. In the town walls there remain two fine gateways--the Porte des Cordeliers, at the north-east angle over the river, and the Porte Picoys, to the north-west, both of the fifteenth century. The Tour St. Antoine, with a Gothic base and upper portion dating from 1530, has been robbed of its church, and now serves as a clock tower. The Hôtel de Ville, near the Porte Picoys, was built between 1535 and 1543 in the Renaissance style, and has just undergone restoration. Among the old houses, La Chancellerie, built in 1551, in the Rue du Château, is especially interesting. [Illustration: THE STREET OF NARVATE, A TYPICAL BASQUE VILLAGE. (_Page 207._)] The Château. _A charge of a half-franc for the castle and a half-franc for the donjon is made, and a gratuity is expected by the girl who shows visitors over the Church of St. Ours._