File:Wanderings by the Loire (1833) (14594356707).jpg

Identifier: wanderingsbyloir00ritc (find matches)
Title: Wanderings by the Loire
Year: 1833 (1830s)
Authors: Ritchie, Leitch, 1800?-1865 Turner, J. M. W. (Joseph Mallord William), 1775-1851
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Publisher: London : Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman Paris : Rittner and Goupil
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University

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wer which fascinatesirresistibly the travellers attention. It commands theentire valley of the Loire; and, from the nature of thecountry beyond, appears to dominate all La Vendee.This is Saint Florent-le-Viel, or the Montglonne, onthe site of which a temple was built by Charlemagne,and destroyed by the Normans. Its later history is stillmore memorable; for on this spot began the fatal warof La Vendee. Two hundred young men, assembledat the drawing of the militia, suddenly attacked themilitary, overcame them, obtained possession of twofield-pieces, and, flushed with the victory, gave thesignal of insurrection to the country. Near Saint Florent is the bourg of Marillais, cele-brated in former times for its sanctity. It is not veryeasy to say exactly to what was owing a reputationwhich, in the middle ages, drew so vast a concourse ofpilgrims that one hundred oxen were required for theirdaily nourishment. We rarely find, however, thatcauses are proportionate in magnitude to their effects;
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> THE PIRATE OF THE LOIRE. 151 and, as the most absurd trifle will in our own time turnthe tide of fashion to a particular watering-place, so itfrequently happened, in the triumphant days of Catho-licism, that a miracle, which would be reckoned poorand paltry in ones own parish, drew the devout, thepenitent, and the idle of all Christendom to the spot.From the steeps of Saint Florent, and more especiallyfrom their culminating point, called the Cavalier, thefinest views of the Loire, so far as we have yet wan-dered, are obtained. On the right bank of the river, a little lower down,the small town of Varades offers also some good pointsof view, particularly from the porch of the Magdaleine,which borders the valley, crowned with the ruins of anold chateau. Varades is seated in a vast area ofmeadows and pastures, with trees in the distance be-hind, and the river in front, broken by islands coveredwith groves. Three leagues and a half from Varades by land isAncenis, a town of four thousa

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