The Portland daily press., 1900-06-13

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picturesque as well as curious. The
question Of how the remoter apartments
are lighted and how the whole Is heated,
Is answered by stacks Of chimneys and
shafts for light which appear above the
ground at the summit OF the hills out OF
which the little structures are hewn
Afterwards we were able to look into such
apartments and found that they were
very dry and well plastered and had the
usual decorations, with paper hangings
and wood finish.
Ths route from Tours to Nantes Is
charming and there are several large
towns and many castles on the way.
Among these Is the fine chateau OF
Luynes, ON the hillside, and Cinq Mars
about twelve miles from Tours, which Is
the ancestral dwelling Of the Marquis OF
that name who was the favorite Of Louis
XIII. and was beheaded at Lyons in 1852
by the order of Richelieu for having,
with his friend DE Thou, conspired
against that proud minister Of State.
Langeais is castle which rises in the
midst Of the village, dark, sombre and
gray, with Its three towers and huge
bracketed cornice. 1t hardly suggests the
festive gaieties Of wedding, although
the main event In Its history is the mar
riage, in the great hall, in 1891, OF Anne
of Brittany to her first husband Charles
VIII.
Little of interest occurs after leaving
Langeais before we come into the bright
region of Bretagne with its happy people
and sunny landscapes At Anglers there
Is castle of the 18th century said to be
the most imposing structure Of its kind
in existence. 1t still preserves the most
Of the seventeen original towers, and Is
surrounded by an extensive moat which
was formerly filed with water from the
Loire Fouquet, the Minister Of
Finance Of Louis XIV. after checkered
career was imprisoned here after having
been arrested in Nantes. This castle was
also the place of confinement OF Hugue-
nots and the Vendean prisoners.
Near the little town of Camptoce, to
the right, are the ruins Of 10Th century
Laval, Marshal de Retz, notorious in his
tory for his excuses and cruelty. He is
supposed to be the original Of the Blue
beard of the Nursery Tales and was then
known as "Barbe Bleue."
The city of Nantes is noted for quite a
number of things-for its castle, its cathe-
dral and the turreted house In which the
Edict of Nantes was signed In 1893 by
Henry ". OF France. Nantes was also
made conspicuous during the French
Revolution by the drowning Of its nine
thousand inhabitants by the monster
Carrier, who when there were not guillo-
tines and fusillades enough, bound the
frightened Vendeans In pairs and placing
them in scuttled barges, sent them to the
bottom Of the Loire.
The castle Of Nantes was the home Of
the last Duke Of Brittany and here the
Duchess Anne was born. 1t was given
to the latter with the rest Of the province
for her dowry when she married Charles
VIII OF France.
Anne OF Brittany wasa most ubiquitous
character; for we have already seen her
married at Langeais to Charles VIII. and
have met her at Loches as his bride, and
at Amboise, where he died, as his widow.
At BIois she married Louis XII, where
she herself went the way of all royalty
as well as OF the poor and lowly.
All the kings from Louis XI. down
visited the castle at Nantes, which Is
filed with incidents from French history.
1t served as the prison for many noted
persons, among whom was the Marshal
de Retz, spoken of above, who was exc
cuted at Nantes for the diabolical murder
of two hundred innocent children, in 1440.
The Duchess Of Berry, mother of the
CUNT of .Chambord, after raising the
standard Of the Bourbons in 1882, was
imprisoned here. She was betrayed by
one of her servants In neighboring
house where she had been hidden for five
months, and where she was arrested.
The cathedral is fine architectural
building resembling somewhat the one at
Bourges. 1t is also of the 18th century
and has choir of the 18th and lofty
nave which is very imposing In effect.
But the chief object of interest is the
tomb of Francis H., the last Duke Of
Brittany, which his daughter Anne erect
ed in honor OF him and the Duchess, and
which was afterwards removed from a
demolished convent to the present site.
This exquisite monument is masterpiece
by Michael Colombo, the same who exc
cuted the tomb of the two children of
Anne of Brittany and Charles VIII. in
the Cathedral Of Tours, At the four
corners of the tomb at Nantes are the
four figures Of Prudence, Temperance,
Power and Justice, seeming to watch
over the Duke and ID uchess as they lie
In their robes of state with diadems on
their brows. The figure representing
Justice Is from portrait of Anne of
Brittany herself. In the North Transept
is monument, by the sculptor Paul
Dubois, of General Lamoriciere, the de-
fender of the Pope. Two of the four
figures at the corner, the bas-rsliefs rep
resenting Military Courage and Charity,
x.-.n. n~h{hiteA In, sIav or tho Col n.,