Approaching nearer to Tours, I had a fine view of the bridge, which is
esteemed the handsomest in France. Between the branches of the trees,
I now and then caught a glimpse of the spires of the church and
buildings, encompassed by extensive orchards and groves, and open
vales between, varied by vineyards. It was a _jour de fete_, and as I
drove through the town the streets were gay with holyday people, and
crowded in some places with groups of women and girls, whose cheerful
countenances proved the admiration with which they viewed the
performances of some mountebanks.[12] Tours is the chief seat of the
prefecture of the Indre-et-Loire, formerly the capital of the province
of Touraine, and is built on a plain on the bank of the Loire. The
houses are of a white stone, and in the principal streets well built
and lofty: it is altogether one of the handsomest towns in France. The
main street, the rue Royale, can boast of a foot pavement, which is
seldom to be met with in this country. The environs of the town are
also very beautiful; the luxuriance of the soil, abounding in vines,
fruits, and every article of life, has attracted such numbers of
English to its vicinity, that Tours may be almost considered an
English colony.
[Footnote 12: There is no city in Europe where there are more of
these sort of people to be seen than at Paris, on the boulevards and
different carrefours. The fondness of the Parisians for shows has
existed for ages. In a tariff of Saint Lewis for regulating the duties
upon the different articles brought into Paris by the gate of the
little Chatelet, it is ordained, (Hist.
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