Here in Touraine Gabrielle d'Estrées was born in 1565. She was twenty-six years old when Henri IV. first saw her in the château of her father at Cœuvres. So charmed was he with her graces that he made her his maîtresse forthwith, though the old court-life chronicles of the day state that she already possessed something more than the admiration of Sebastian Zamet, the celebrated financier.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHENONCEAUX
"The castle of Chenonceaux is a fine place on the river Cher, in a fine and pleasant country."
François Premier.
"The castle of Chenonceaux is one of the best and most beautiful of our kingdom."
Henri II.
The average visitor will come prepared to worship and admire a château so praised by two luxury-loving Kings of France.
Chenonceaux is noted chiefly for its château, but the little village itself is charming. The houses of the village are not very new, nor very old, but the one long street is most attractive throughout its length, and the whole atmosphere of the place, from September to December, is odorous with the perfume of red-purple grapes. The vintage is not the equal of that of the Bordeaux region, perhaps, nor of Chinon, nor Saumur; but the vin du pays of the Cher and the Loire, around Tours, is not to be despised.
Most tourists come to Chenonceaux by train from Tours; others drive over from Amboise, and yet others come by bicycle or automobile. They are not as yet so numerous as might be expected, and accordingly here, as elsewhere in Touraine, every facility is given for visiting the château and its park.
If you do not hurry off at once to worship at the abode of the fascinating Diane, one of the brightest ornaments of the court of François Premier and his son Henri, you will enjoy your dinner at the Hôtel du Bon Laboureur, though most likely it will be a solitary one, and you will be put to bed in a great chamber overlooking the park, through which peep, in the moonlight, the turrets of the château, and you may hear the purling of the waters of the Cher as it flows below the walls.
Jean Jacques Rousseau, like François I., called Chenonceaux a beautiful place, and he was right; it is all of that and more. Here one comes into direct contact with an atmosphere which, if not feudal, or even mediæval, is at least that of several hundred years ago.