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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
between the Loire and the little river Ciss , running parallel thereto at the foot * of the bill , from Vouvray to Vouve , whjqh latter place is in the department of the Loire and Cher , in the . direction of Blois . On the other hand , the rich flat extends from near Montlouis ,. on the left bank of the Loire , to the junction of the Loire and
Cher , and one branch of the Indre below Brehenaont , together in , length exceeding twelve French leagues . This rich and long but narrow tract of land bears everywhere the marks of most luxuriant vegetation , though it has ceased to be so much of a meadow district as it was before the Revolution , at which period most of it was sold in small portions to different proprietors , the provision for whose families , according to the laws of succession in France , has since further reduced the size of individual properties , and
increased the number of landowners . As affecting the beauty of the scenery , this has by no means operated a favourable change , particularly at certain seasons of the year , but rational life and happiness have no doubt been increased;—for many now live on the produce of what was engrossed and mostly misspent by a few , or went to support and enrich a comparatively small number of idle monks ; and may be said to have been diverted from the possession of the drones to reward the labours of the industrious bees of
the public hive . Formerly the monks of the Abbey of Marmoutier and St . Martin of Tours , with the royal domain of the Castle of Plessis , occupied the whole of the valley near the city of Tours . That the change is morally as well as politically for the better there can be no doubt . In the month of January , 1831 , above one hundred persons ( proprietors and their families ) were engaged in breaking up with the spade different adjoining portions of this
fine deep land , and the same work was carrying on by other smaller groups in various parts , within the range of the eye from the public road . It was impossible not to pause and look and listen at this singular exhibition of cheerful social industry . The spot was a part of the rich district within two miles of the city , and on a bend of the Cher , not far from the park wall of the
celebrated chateau of Plessis-les-Tours . On a nearer approach the words—* " C ' est la liberte des deux mondes , c ' est JLa FayetteP &c . were distinctly heard , as the animating strains of the * Parisienne * burst fully upon the ear . These lands formed a portion of the rich demesne of the chateau , and the recollection of the description thereof from the magical pen of Sir Walter Scott , which has
revived and perhaps prolonged its remembrance for another century , produced an almost overpowering effect . Humanity shudders at the too faithful description that wizard of the north has given , in his Quentin Durward , of this horrible fortress and favourite residence of regal tyranny , and the heart sickens at the enormities here practised . But , thanks to Almighty God I the ' battlemented and turreted walls /—the thrice repeated
Untitled Article
6 TO ffotices qf France .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1832, page 678, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1822/page/30/
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