itself, and that little under a
surveillance which makes one regret that the feudal times are not still
with us,--when we might vent our spleen and anger upon any who offend
us.

[Illustration: _St. Gatien de Tours_]

IV

ST. GATIEN DE TOURS

The _soi-disant_ provincial metropolis of Mr. James' appreciative
favour, the capital of old Touraine, is possessed of great and many
charms for the seeker after new things. He may be passionately fond of
churches; if so, the trinity here to be seen, and the history of their
founders and prelates, and the important part which they played in
church affairs, will edify him greatly. If romance fills his or her
mind, there is no more convenient centre than Tours from which to "_do_"
the chateaux of the Loire. If it be French history, or the study of
modern economic or commercial conditions, the past activities and
present prosperity of the city will give much food for thought. If to
literature one's mind turns, there is the association with Balzac's
birth in the Rue Royale, and his delightful picturings of the city's
environment in the "Cure de Tours," "Le Lys dans la Vallee," and "La
Grenadiere." Says Balzac of the habitant: "...He is a listless and
unobliging individual." But the sojourner for a day will probably not
notice this, and, if he should, must simply make allowance, and think
with Henry James of the other memories of "this land of Rabelais,
Descartes, and Balzac; of good dinners, good company, and good houses."
To link the city still closer with letters, the first printing-press in
Touraine was set up here in 1496. Nicolas Jensen, famed as the foremost
Venetian printer of his time, was born in the neighbourhood and was at
one time "Master of the Mint" at Tours. Christopher Plantin, the head of
the famous Antwerp family of printers, likewise was born in the near-by
suburb of St. Avertin pres Tours.

Climatically, Touraine appears to linger between the rigours of the
north and the mildness of the southland; at least we are conscious of
another atmosphere, made apparent by such evidences as palms and prunes
growing in the open.

Tours, says her historian, has ever employed the pure French in her
spoken and written word; "patois and provincialisms have no place
here."

St. Martin of Tours erected a church here, in honour of St. Peter and
Paul, as a sort of antidote to the many pagan temples which he had
caused to be destroyed. His successors built several oth