158 THROUGH TOURAINE ON TYRES 



Of the chateaux on the Loire and its tributaries 

 there is little purpose in writing ; the visitors' books in 

 each bear witness to the steady stream of English and 

 Americans which pass their portals year by year. 

 Perhaps Chauinont is the one which is least often 

 visited, yet many will be found to give it the palm 

 among them all. It lacks the sensuous languor of 

 Chenonceaux and Azay-le-Kideau, is without the blood- 

 curdling associations of Amboise and Blois, has none of 

 the colossal ineptitude of Chambord, and does not 

 cumber the ground with vast ruins like Chinon. Built 

 on a towering cliff on the left bank of the Loire, just 

 where the river sweeps widely from south to west, this 

 fine structure of Philibert de 1'Orme very closely 

 resembles in plan the Scottish Caerlaverock. There 

 are, for instance, the same pair of jumelle gate towers 

 with drawbridge and portcullis between, behind which 

 is the ample triangular courtyard, with ample round 

 corner towers, the windows of the dwelling rooms 

 giving full upon the sunny enclosure. Formerly the 

 triangle was complete, as at Caerlaverock, but in 1739 

 the proprietor pulled down the western face furthest 

 from the entrance ; and thus, by securing a magnificent 

 prospect of the river and rich champaign and forest 

 beyond it, rendered Chaumout one of the most charm- 

 ing country houses that could be imagined. 



Here, as elsewhere, in this land of noble dwell- 

 ings, the hand of the renovator has been over- busy, 

 scraping away the lovely ptarmigan grey which the 

 splendid stone of the district assumes with age, and 



