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* 729
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NOTICES OF FRANCE . —No . III .
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( Extracted from the Common-place Book of an Invalid . ) Abbey of Marmoutier—Decline of the Gallican Church .
At about the same distance from Tours on the east as PJessis on the west , close by the side of the road to Orleans is the site of the ancient and splendid Benedictine Abbey of Marmoutier . Of all that remains of its former grandeur , are now to be seen only a small plain round tower , in an angle of the wall projecting inconveniently into the public road ; a curious massive gateway in good preservation , having been formerly the chief south entrance , and some low and nowise remarkable buildings engrafted on part of the high wall , which probably once served for
the accommodation of some of the menials and retainers of the monks , but which are now converted into a kennel for the use of the English boar-hounds . Had an earthquake been commissioned to engulph the tapering spires and stately towers of Marmoutier , with all their appendages of choirs ,, chapels , oratories , cells , subterranean passages , sacred images , and holy relics , the destruction could scarcely have been more complete . If besides
those enumerated a fragment remains on the spot , it is embodied and lost in some modern building , or reduced to a mere shapeless block deprived of all insignia of its former destination . Within the present inclosure , a neat country-house has sprung up with its offices , vineyards and gardens , exhibiting a striking contrast in its modest , cheerful , and comfortable exterior , to the recollection of the gloomy grandeur of its predecessor . The situation of
Marmoutier on the right bank of the Loire , is as fine as the views from it are rich and beautiful ; and whilst it retained its former glories , and before the noble embankment of the Levee was made ; and ere yet it had been shorn of the leafy honours of its stately timber , it must have been , to an eye qualified to judge of the beauties of picturesque scenery , a lovely and surprising spot to look at . A few simple words may suffice to describe it as it is , but its " tale of former times '' is not so briefly told . The Abbey of Marmoutier boasted of higher antiquity than the French monarchy , for it dated its origin in the fourth , whereas the latter was founded in the fifth century * .
St . Martin having succeeded to the see of Tours in the year 375 , occupied himself almost immediately thereon , in fixing upon a retreat in which he might collect a few disciples and devote himself , after the manner of the age , to meditation and prayer . The valley , which lies at the foot of the cdte ( hill ) , but little removed from the city ( a spot at that time uncultivated and solitary ) appeared to him favourable to his views , In ft short time he assembled five and forty followers , a number , says the ? Cbalmel .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1832, page 729, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1824/page/9/
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