he 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. LVIII. cxxxiii.) that
whosoever fetches a monkey into the city for sale, shall pay four
deniers; but if the monkey belongs to a merry-andrew, the merry-andrew
shall be exempted from paying the duty, as well upon the said monkey
as on every thing else he carries along with him, by causing his
monkey to play and dance before the collector! Hence is derived the
proverb "Payer en monnoie de singe," i.e. to laugh at a man instead of
paying him. By another article, it is specified, that jugglers shall
likewise be exempt from all imposts, provided they sing a couplet of a
song before the toll-gatherer.]

Its ancient cathedral is in good preservation, notwithstanding it
became a prey to the licentious fanaticism of the republicans.

The hotel Saint Julien, where I resided during my stay, stands upon
the cloisters of an ancient abbey; and the church, with its fine
Gothic pillars, and chapels, remains a monument of those destructive
and desolating times! The side aisles are stalls for horses and
cattle, and the centre is a _remise_ for carriages and the public
diligences which run to this inn! The best hotel is the hotel du
Faisan. The vast number of English who keep pouring into all the
western provinces of this country, by degrees has affected the
markets, and will continue to do so, as long as the rage for
emigration lasts. At