well ascertained fact, that the alcohol in wine combined in the natural way, when drank in that state, is not productive of those complaints of the liver, and other diseases, which arise from drinking the brandied wines of Portugal, in which the spirit is foreign. The union of the alcohol, being mingled with the other ingredients of the wine by artificial means, is never perfect, and is beyond calculation more pernicious than the strongest natural product.

The light wines of France may not on first acquaintance prove so relishing or pleasant to the English palate accustomed to adulterated or brandied wines; they however in reality, not only impart a cheerfulness and exhilaration, a kind of pleasant easy buoyancy entirely different from what arises from the use of port, or the spirituous heavier wines but have when taken largely a much less injurious effect upon the constitution.

This remark would perhaps seem more strictly to apply to the wines made for home consumption, as a small per centage of Brandy and syrup of raisins are generally mingled with the French wines to please the foreign palate.

The generous juice of the grape, was undoubtedly bestowed upon man by his benificent Creator, to impart health and vigour to his physical energies, and a wholesome cheerfulness to his soul; and if he would wish to avoid enervating the one or brutalizing the other, he will do well to eschew all «mixed wine», which before the period of its scriptural denunciation to the present, has ever and anon manifested itself in the «living temples» of its besotted votaries in the character of indigestion, apoplexy, dropsy, gout, delirium, tremours, and a long train of diseases.

«Strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise»; but pure wine upon a healthy stomach, is grateful and precious as the light of truth and the exercise of discretion, to a sound and well-regulated mind.[B]

ROUTES.

Such are the facilities for travelling afforded by the two countries, that a journey may now be performed with ease and comfort between London and Tours, in the short space of fifty hours! being a distance of about four hundred miles. This is to be effected by the railway from the metropolis to Southampton, and thence by the splendid steam packets to Hâvre, from which place a well appointed malle-poste daily runs to Tours.[C]

The nearest way from Hâvre to Tours, being a distance of about one hundred and sixty miles, is by Honfleur, Lizieux, Alençon and Le Mans, which diligences regularly perform. But perhaps the most picturesque routes are by way of Rouen. The post road from Hâvre to Rouen, along the northern banks of the Seine, frequently presents the most beautiful and varied prospects; but if possible, the picturesque scenery which successively presents itself in an ascent by steam vessel up the Seine to Rouen is of a more exquisitely charming character. Passing between Harfleur and Honfleur, which are pleasantly situated on the opposite elevated slopes, near the mouth of the river, a small but most beautiful bay presents itself bounded by a series of gently rising, well wooded hills, occasionally decorated with a spacious mansion, or bespangled with neat cottages and elegant villas. On approaching Quillebeuf, near which there is a spot, said to exceed in picturesque beauty the banks of the Rhine, the river becomes narrower, and as we continue to follow its exceedingly tortuous course, a rapid succession of lovely sylvan scenery gratifies the eye.

The heights which border the Seine, and which are constituted of the chalk formation, are deeply furrowed by a continuous series of transverse vallies, forming a succession of rounded elevations, which together, present a remarkable natural phenomena, well worthy the particular attention of the speculative geologist. Many of these heights are clad with a rich garb of foliage, as are also most of their concomitant vales, in some of which a pretty neat village is sequesteredly ensconced, while its neighbouring hills are adorned by a château, or the semblance of some noble ruin, in the bold indentations of a grey rocky precipice peering through dense masses of foliage.

As the vicinity of Rouen is approached, the opposite hills gradually expand, leaving at their base an extensive plain of luxuriant pastures and waving corn fields, around which the Seine winds in graceful folds, till, on reaching the environs of Rouen, it encircles islands of the richest verdure. At this point, the ancient capital of Normandy appears in view, with its venerable temples, noble buildings, quays, and hosts of sea and river craft; the whole being surrounded by an expansive amphitheatre of thickly timbered hills.

The distance from Hâvre to Rouen by land is fifty-three miles, but up the Seine it is about eighty miles; the extra length however of the journey occasioned by the extremely indirect course of the river, is amply compensated for by the exquisite and ever varying prospects afforded by the passage up the Seine.

Another extremely interesting and convenient route to Tours might be pointed out, to such as could bear the fatigues of a lengthened voyage and long land trip, by way of the channel islands to Saint-Malo, and thence by diligence, through the romantic primary districts of Britanny, to Rennes and Nantes, the chief place of the department of Loire-Inférieure, and one of the richest and most commercial towns of France; it is situated on the right banks of the Loire, at the confluence of the Indre and the Severe. From this place the traveller may reach Tours by the regular conveyances, through Angers and Saumur; or, by ascending the Loire in one of the neat steam packets which perform regular trips between Nantes and Orléans: the fare by which to Tours is but twelve francs, though the distance thus performed is upwards of one hundred and forty miles. The land journey which is about one hundred and thirty miles, is extremely diversified and pleasing, but that by water is of surpassing beauty; the delighted voyager wends his way where many a verdant isle smiles amid the stream, through an endless variety of lake-like scenery, enriched on either hand in the highest degree by rocky escarpments, and gently rising grounds clad with vineyards, and numerous other choice productions of the vegetable kingdom, now receding so as to form an expansive plain of verdant pastures, and anon abruptly projecting with their lovely sylvan burdens into the very centre of the broad and glittering stream.

In closing these few descriptive remarks on the character of the most prominent routes to Tours, from northern France, we must not omit to remind the invalided especially, that the one from Dover to Calais, or to Boulogne, and thence to Paris, Orléans, and Blois, is perhaps in many cases, to be preferred on account of the shortness of the sea passage; and although one of a circuitous character, it necessarily presents many natural and artificial features of stirring interest and beauty.

TOURS.

The city of Tours, may be divided into two compartments, the ancient and the modern.

The modern portion is no less distinguished for its neatness and elegance, than is the ancient for its antique character, and the number of monuments it contains, illustrative of the histories of remote ages.

Tours, now head quarters of the department of Indre-et-Loire, was