A SUMMER IN TO1JRAINE.f
THOSE who know and love Touraine will be the first to thank Mr. Lees, not so much, perhaps, for his histories of Blois, Chaumont, &c., in which he upsets various traditions in a way which, if demanded by scientific truth, is rather dis- turbing to old-fashioned minds, but for his detailed, delight- ful stories of the less-known ch&teaux and their owners. These stories are too often sad. It becomes more and more difficult in France, as in England, for an ancient family to retain and keep up its glorious old dwelling-place, and often there is nothing better to be hoped than that an American millionaire may step in and restore what must otherwise fall into rain. Now and then, as in the case of Azay-le-Rideau, it is the French Government that rescues a noble old house • Lighter Studies of a Country Rector. By John Vaughan, M.A. London : Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons. [5s. net.] f A Summer in Touraine. By Frederic Lees. With 12 Illustrations in Colour by Maxwell Armfield, 87 other Bltistratdons, and a Nap. London : Methuen and Co. [10s. 6d. net.] from degradation. Here and there, to preserve his heritage and collection intact—as in the case of Langeais—the owner makes the Institute of France his heir; whether entirely to the content of his natural successors, who knows P but to the advantage of France and of the world.
A Summer in Touraine, with its many charming illustra- tions, may be recommended as pleasant reading to every one, but it will be specially enjoyed by those whose happy fate it is to be able to read between the lines, with personal or first- hand knowledge of the subject. And there cannot be a better testimonial to the book's merits than the fact that its pages are turned with interest, its illustrations studied with delight, by people of a foreign language, yet who are, after all, its most capable critics, under those very summer skies of beautiful Touraine.
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