A 
 
 TOUR 
 
 THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE OF 
 
 ffivamts% 
 
 on, 
 
 NEW TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL 
 
 SKETCH 
 
 OF 
 
 ALL ITS MOST IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING 
 
 CITIES, TOWNS, FORTS, CASTLES, PALACES, 
 
 ISLANDS, HARBOURS, BRIDGES, RIVERS, 
 ANTIQUITIES, Sfc. $c. 
 
 INTERSPERSED WITH 
 
 CURIOUS AND ILLUSTRATIVE 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MANNERS, CUSTOMS, DRESS, %c. OF THE INHABIT/UN fts 
 
 BY JOHN BARNES. 
 
 EMBELLISHED WITH COPPER-PLATES. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED AND SOLD BY WILLIAM D ART ON, J UN. 
 58, HOLBORN HILL. 
 
 1815, 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 The following pages ivere originally written as " A Key 
 to Walker's Geographical Tour through France;" 
 this is mentioned, to account for the arrangement and succes- 
 sion of the articles, which were placed, to correspond numeri- 
 cally with Walker's large Map of France, upon which the 
 instructive and amusing Tour is made. No inconvenience will 
 result from this order ; for, the numbers being still preserved, 
 any particular place sought after may be found by the Index, 
 which refers to the number of each article, and not to the page 
 of the book. Though the route supposed to have been pur- 
 sued by Walker has been generally followed, as taking in the 
 whole of France, yet many alterations have been made in this 
 edition, by leaving out some places of minor consideration, and 
 inserting others of greater importance. In the performance of 
 this task, the limits set me precluded my giving a full de- 
 scription of places noticed — the reader must only expect a 
 Sketch. 
 
 It is perhaps unnecessary to add, that I have availed myself 
 of all the best modern information within my reach, have 
 gleaned from various authorities, and concentrated into one 
 point of view all that I supposed would be interesting, and 
 have spared no pains to render the whole correct as to dates, 
 distances, and historical facts. 
 
 Though England and France are very near neighbours, yet 
 they are almost strangers to each other ; which may be imputed 
 to the state of ivar, horrid war ! in which they have been so 
 long engaged. 
 
 It is hoped that a better knowledge of the present state of 
 the country and inhabitants, which it is the object of this little 
 work to drffuse, may tend to lessen national animosity and 
 hostility, and for ever bind together in the gentle bands of 
 peace the two most powerful and enlightened nations in the 
 world ! 
 
 Homerton Terrace, 
 July 15, 1815. 
 
General Description of France. 
 
 FRANCE is a country of Europe, bounded on the N. by the 
 English Channel and the Netherlands, on the E. by Germany, 
 Switzerland and Italy, on the S. by the Mediterranean Sea and 
 the Pyrenees, which separate it from Spain, and on the W. by 
 the Atlantic Ocean. It extends from 4. 48. W. to 8. 22. E. 
 longitude, and from 42. 24. to 51. 24. N. latitude; its length 
 from N. to S. is nearly 700 miles, and its breadth from the 
 easterly part of the department of the Lower Rhine to the 
 westerly part of that of Finisterre is about 650; it is now 
 divided into 83 departments. France has been said to be to 
 Europe what Europe is to the other three quarters of the world ; 
 that is to say, the most temperate, the most fertile, the best go- 
 verned, and the most warlike. The climate is temperate, and 
 the air more clear and settled than in England; but in the 
 southern as well as in the northern provinces the winters are 
 sometimes very severe. The soil is agreeably diversified, and 
 productive of all the necessaries and many of the luxuries of 
 life ; it yields corn, wine, oil, salt, a great variety of highly- 
 flavoured fruits, tobacco, hemp, flax, manna, saffron, many 
 drugs, and silk in great abundance. The forests are numerous 
 and extensive, and the mineral productions various and impor- 
 tant. The principal rivers are the Loire, Rhone, Garonne, and 
 Seine. The mountains, the Alps, Pyrenees, Cevennes, and 
 Vosges. The animals, wolves excepted, birds, &c. are much the 
 same as those in England. The population is now estimated at 
 twenty-eight millions. All religious sects are tolerated, and there 
 is no one predominant ; it is melancholy to perceive the almost 
 total disregard of religion in modern France ; the Roman Ca- 
 tholic was the established religion before the revolution. The 
 French are esteemed the most polite people in Europe, though 
 not the most sincere ; they are gay and affable, eat less solid 
 food than the English, though greater epicures in their sauces ; 
 they are generally well-made and free from bodily deformities, 
 taller than the Spaniards and Italians, but not so tall as the 
 Germans, Flemish and English. Hospitality, a taste for litera- 
 ture, liveliness, national vanity, and inconstancy, are character- 
 istics of the French ; the ladies are more celebrated for grace* 
 
 a 2 
 
4 
 
 fulness and vivacity than fur personal beauty. The export trade 
 of France consists chiefly in wine, brandy, vinegar, fruit, corn, 
 salt, hemp and flax, silk, resin, oil, soap, cork, perfumes, drugs, 
 &c. The manufactures are silks in various ways, woollen and 
 linen cloth, lace, paper, soap, and China-ware. The inland traf- 
 fic is very great, and carried on with little expense by means of 
 the many large navigable rivers and canals; the chief of the 
 canals are those of Languedoc, Calais, and Orleans. At the de- 
 cline of the Roman power, this country was called Gaul, and 
 derives its present designation, according to some, from the 
 Trojan Francus, or Francion ; but according to others, and 
 with more } robability, from the Franks, a people of Ger- 
 many, leagued together under this title, signifying free ; who 
 invaded Gaul, and entirely subdued the country, in 486, under 
 their leader Clovis, whom the French historians call their first 
 Christian king, Pharamond being their first king in the year 
 420. The French divide their kings into three races, the Me- 
 rovingians, Carlovingians, and Capets. Hugh Capet obtained 
 the crown of France in 987; and one of his descendants, 
 Louis XVI. in the year 1793, was executed on a public scaffold 
 in Paris. The revolution and its dreadful consequences are 
 well known ; and the rise of Buonaparte ; whose ambition aimed 
 at, and in 1804 obtained, imperial dignity. But in consequence 
 of the invasion of France by the Allies, and their successes, 
 Buonaparte, in 1814, abdicated the throne, the Bourbons were 
 recalled, and Louis XVII 1. made his public entry into Paris. 
 In less than twelve months, however, the army and the people 
 generally declaring for him, Buonaparte left his retreat in Elba, 
 marched, without opposition, to Paris, again resumed the govern- 
 ment, and compelled the aged, unfortunate king cnce more to 
 become a fugitive. — The French language is so polite, elegant, 
 and easy, that it is more generally spoken than any other in the 
 world ; u is formed of the Greek, Latin and German, and is so 
 much esteemed for its purity and neatness, that it is used in all 
 the courts of Europe. Paris is the capital. 
 
TOUR THROUGH FRANCE, 
 
 I. WE commence our Tour, like most other English tra- 
 vellers ,who embark at Dover, with describing CALAIS, 
 the nearest sea-port town to England, in the department of 
 the Straits of Calais, about 20 miles S. E. of Dover, and 
 152 almost N. of Paris. The harbour is too much obstructed 
 with sand to admit large vessels, except at high water. In 
 the year 1228 it began to be fortified, and in 1347 was so 
 strong that Edward 111. of England could only take it by 
 famine. It was the last town in France that the English 
 kept of the conquests of that monarch. Calais was bom- 
 barded by Sir Cioudesly Shovel in IC94, but without sustain- 
 ing much damage. It has been compared to Dover, but rather 
 resembles Folkestone, is strongly fortified and defended with a 
 citadel. The streets are irregular, the houses old and lofty, and 
 the pavement the worst that can be imagined. The Grande Place, 
 however, is large and handsome, and Hogarth's Gate is an ob- 
 ject of curiosity. Dessein's hotel, long considered the best m 
 France, still supports its ancient reputation The market is very 
 plentifully supplied, and provisions are about one half cheaper 
 than in England. There are between 4 and 5000 inhabitants, 
 chiefly fishermen and smugglers. The country rour -J Calais so 
 exactly resembles that of the opposite coasts, as to appear almost 
 a counterpart, and as if the sea had worked itself a channel, and 
 thus divided a broad and lofty hill. It is not improbable, as many 
 ingenious men have supposed, that Great Britain was at one time 
 (a very remote period) connected to the Continent. The agricul- 
 ture about Calais appears to be wretcheo ; the soli is in general 
 very good, except where the substratum of chalk or marl rises 
 too near the surface. Vegetation seems strong, and trees grow 
 near the cliffs. The revolution has much improved the condition 
 of the farmers, having relieved them from feudal tenures, cor- 
 vees and lay-tithes, for the latter of which a small rate for the 
 officiating minister is substituted. 
 
6 
 
 2. The city of ST. OMER, in the department of the Straits 
 of Calais, is 20 miles S.E. of Calais, and 135 N. of Paris. 
 The approach to St. Orner, although flat, is exceedingly beautiful 
 and picturesque ; it is situated on the river Aa, is very r strongly 
 fortified, and, before the revolution, was the see of a bishop. 
 The city is dull, but the streets are very wide and handsomely 
 built. Formerly there were a great many monasteries, 
 convents and colleges ; now there is only one convent re- 
 maining, and the monasteries are entirely destroyed. The 
 English College, at one time so celebrated, is now metamor- 
 phosed into an hospital. The cathedral is a noble pile, and 
 was built 900 years ago ; it was preserved during the revolution 
 by being turned into a granary. The church of St Denis is 
 very handsome; in the mass the responses are made by a 
 bassoon, which has a most strange effect, But the ruin of the 
 abbey of St. Bertin is the most interesting object in St. Omer : 
 it belonged to the Benedictines, was 130 years building, and 
 was a noble and elegant pile before the revolution. In the time 
 of .the revolution it was sold, unroofed, and dismantled of all 
 its interior beauties, except two very fine pillars ; the walls are 
 standing, which only require the assistance of ivy to form 
 the most beautiful mass of ruins imaginable. The tower is 
 still perfect, in which one man watches during the day and two 
 at night, to give the alarm in case of fire in the city. It has 
 309 steps to the summit, from which there is a lovely and 
 ample prospect. The nuns of the convent of the Ursulines, the 
 convent being destroyed, dispersed or were imprisoned during 
 the time of terror, and the abbess with some of the sisterhood 
 emigrated into Germany, and suffered incredible hardships ; 
 they have now returned and occupy the only convent left in 
 St. Omer, in which they educate the children of the poor 
 without any remuneration, and take pensioners at a very moder- 
 ate rate. There are excellent and spacious gardens attached to 
 the convent. 
 
 3 e From St. Omer let us go back again to the coast, and to the 
 " N.E. of Calais we shall find DUNKIRK, a sea-port in the 
 department of the North, 22 miles S.W. of Ostend. in the year 
 980 it was surrounded with walls by Baldwin III. Count of Flan- 
 ders. In jl3§8 it was burned by the English, and in 164G it was 
 taken by the French, assisted by the navy of Holland, commanded 
 by Van Trump. In 1658 it was ceded to England by a treaty 
 made with Oliver Cromwell, but when Charles II. sold it to France 
 in 1662, for five millions of livres, Louis XIV. made it one of the 
 
7 
 
 strongest places in Europe and rendered the harbour commo- 
 dious. By an article of the treaty of Utrecht, it was agreed 
 that ail the fortifications should be demolished and the harbour 
 fitted up. Since the peace of 1783, after the American war, 
 the harbour has again been cleared, and the fortifications re- 
 paired. In 1694 Sir Cloudesly Shovel bombarded Dunkirk, 
 but after having thrown in above 1200 bombs retired without 
 having done any considerable damage. In the year 1793 the 
 English army, under the Duke of York attempted to besiege 
 it, but were compelled to retire. It is the most important town 
 and harbour on the whole coast. By means of a sluice 42 feet 
 wide, the basin within the town will hold 40 ships of the line 
 always floating. Dunkirk is divided into Old and New Town, 
 and is estimated to contain 80,000 inhabitants. 
 
 4 # Nine miles W,S.W. of Dunkirk is GRAVELINES, a sea- 
 port in the department of' the North, situated at the mouth 
 of the river Aa. It was built in the year 1160 by Thierry, 
 Count of Flanders, is not large, but well fortified with bastions, 
 half-moons and horn work, with large and deep ditches. The 
 country near it is intersected by canals, one of which goes to 
 Dunkirk by Bourbourg, and another passes directly to Ben* lies. 
 The harbour was formerly much frequented, and it was a place 
 of great importance before this part of Flanders was annexed to 
 France ; it was ceded to France by the peace of the Py^ ne' s 
 
 ^.Let us now proceed to LILLE or LISLE, a city in the de- 
 partment of the North, 130 miles N. of Paris, formerly the ca- 
 pital of French Flanders. This is a large x and handsome city, 
 one of the richest and most commercial in France, situated on the 
 river Deule, in a rich and marshy soil, surrounded with walls and 
 strongly fortified by a citadel. The entrance to Lisle has a most 
 singular and striking appearance ; there are more than 200 
 wind-mills about a miie from the city, posted in battle array, 
 and they have the most strange and ludicrous effect that can be 
 imagined: a great quantity of rape is cultivated in the neigh- 
 bourhood, which they thrash in the fields, and of the seed make 
 oil in these mills. They reckon in Lille, 170 streets, 30 public 
 places, 8000 houses and 56,000 inhabitants; the houses are 
 built of stone, and are lofty and handsome ; the streets are 
 regular, wide, clean and well paved, superior to any in Paris. 
 There were here nearly 50 churches, 18 convents, 6 hospitals 
 and 3 colleges ; it was divided into 7 parishes and had 7 gates, 
 some of which are admired for their architecture. The maim- 
 
8 
 
 factures are various, chiefly camlets, cloth, ratteens, silk and wool- 
 len stuffs, linen, lace, ribbons, hats, paper, soap, kc. and thread 
 which is here brought to surprising' perfection ; the camlets are 
 in great esteem all over Europe. The citadel is considered as 
 one of the best works of Marshal Yauban (the best military archi- 
 tect that France, or perhaps any other country, ever produced), 
 and, except Turin, is the strongest in Europe ; it has sustained a 
 g*eat many very severe sieges. The town owes its origin to a 
 castle named Le Buc, which was the residence of the ancient 
 foresters, or Counts of Flanders, and was first built in 040. Bald- 
 win V., called Baldwin de Lille, surrounded it with walls, and 
 made it his residence. In 1667 it was besieged by Louis XIV. 
 in person, and, being unprovided for a siege, in seventeen clays 
 it surrendered. In I #08 it was taken by the allies under the 
 Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, after a siege of three 
 months, with a loss of several thousand men, but was restored 
 at the peace of Utrecht in 1713. In 1792 also, Lille was sum- 
 moned by the Austrians, under the Duke of Saxe Teschen, and 
 on refusing to surrender it was bombarded but without success; 
 the siege began on the 29th of September, and was raised on 
 the 8th of October, during which time it is supposed that up- 
 wards of 30,000 red-hot balls mid 6000 bombs were thrown into 
 the city, exclusive of the battering train. It had suffered three 
 sieges previous to any of those mentioned. Louis XVI 1 1, derives 
 his title of Count de Lille from this eity. 
 
 (J. Before we proceed to Valenciennes, let us notice DOUAY, 
 a city, and capital of the department of the North, 15 miles 
 N.W. of Cambray and about 110 N. of Paris, situated on the 
 Scarpe, which is navigable for boats. It has long been cele- 
 brated for its English college, whither the Roman Catholics of 
 that nation were generally sent for education. Here the cele- 
 brated Chillingworth resided for a short time after his conversion 
 to the Romish religion. Douay was taken by the allies, under 
 the command of the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, 
 in the year 1710. This siege lasted from the 5th of May to the 
 26th of June ; the garrison, which at first consisted of 8000 men, 
 was reduced to 4527, and the allies lost 8000 men. It was re- 
 taken by the French in 1712. 
 
 7 # VALENCIENNES, is a city, in the department of the North, 
 situated on the Scheldt, which runs through the town in 
 several branches, and here becomes navigable; about 120 
 miles N. N. E. of Paris. It is supposed to have derived its 
 
9 
 
 Mme from the Emperor Valentinian L who laid the foundation 
 of the town about the year 367, endowing it with many privi- 
 leges and immunities, and particularly that of being an asylum, 
 for debtors and criminals. This privilege, which extended 
 over the greater part of the town, was c died banlieu, but it 
 has since been limited, to prevent abuse from fraudulent bank- 
 rupts and assassins. The town-house is an ancient building 
 of freestone, founded in the fourteenth century ; the square or 
 grande vlace is handsome, but the streets are in general narrow, 
 dark and crooked. It contains about 20,000 inhabitants, is a 
 very impoatant place, strongly fortified, and was a depot for 
 English prisoners during the late war; they have greatly pro- 
 moted the comfort and cleanliness of the place. Near the town is 
 a coal-mine. The form of its municipal government was consi- 
 dered so good as to serve for the model of several republics. In tlie 
 year 1678, a new and handsome citadel was built, at the expense of 
 the citizens, and other fortificatitfnsfcadded. In 1793, VaJf nciennes 
 was invested and taken by the allies, under the Duke of York, 
 after a very severe siege. The most singular fact in the history 
 of this siege is, that a considerable part of the war was carried 
 on under ground ; mines and countermines innumerable, having 
 been formed both by the besiegers and besieged. Those under 
 the glacis and under the horn-work of the fortress, having been 
 completed and charged by the allies on the 25th of July, were 
 sprung between nine and ten o'clock at night, with the most 
 complete success. The English and Austrians immediately made 
 themselves masters of the covered way ; the Duke again sum- 
 moned the place, which surrendered on capitulation the suc- 
 ceeding day, and he took possession of it in behalf of the Em- 
 peror. The following year, however, Valenciennes surrendered 
 to the French arms. Considerable stores of every kind, with 
 200 pieces of cannon, an immense sum of money, 1000 head of 
 horned cattle, and great quantities of corn, were found there. 
 The Emperor is said to have expended 3,000,000/, in repairing 
 and improving the fortifications. The principal manufactures 
 are lace, cambric, woollen mits, camlets, &c. The lace is sold 
 here as dear as in England. All this part of France has been 
 called its iron frontier. 
 
 § # As our route will not lead us nearer we may next describe 
 CAM CRAY, a city, in the department of t T ie North, 17 
 miles S. W. of Valenciennes and i 02 N. N. E. of P*rris. Be- 
 fore the revolution it was the capital of Camhresis and the see 
 ni an archbishop. It is a large fortified town, pleasantly 
 
10 
 
 situated on the Scheldt, which divides it into two parts, and 
 contained 10 parishes, 3 abbeys, a great many monasteries and 
 convents, and about 3000 houses. The cathedral was anciently 
 considered as one of the most beautiful in Europe ; it is now 
 poor and neglected. It has considerable manufactures of lace, 
 linen, leather, soap and cambric, which last took its name 
 from this city. Cambray is principally defended by the citadel 
 which the Emperor Charles V. caused to be built at the ex- 
 pense of the citizens ; it is a regular pentagon, the ditches of 
 which are hewn out of the rock, which served to raise the walls 
 and ramparts, and to surround it with five great bastions, de- 
 fended by half-moons and other fortifications. This place was 
 formerly esteemed the most opulent and commercial of any in 
 the Low Countries ; as well as one of the strongest, largest and 
 best situated. On the 23d of April, 1794, the French were 
 defeated at Ceesar's Camp, in the neighbourhood, by the allied 
 army under the Duke of York, with the loss of 1200 men, and 
 3 pieces of cannon; and the next day, they left 1200 men 
 dead on the field of battle, among whom was their general 
 Chapuy, and 350 officers and privates were taken, together 
 with- 22 pieces of cannon. 
 
 9 # After Cambray, ARRAS deserves notice as a fortified city, 
 and capital of the department of the Straits of Calais, 
 situated on the Scarpe, 94 miles N. of Paris. Before the revo- 
 lution it was the capital of Artois ; it was taken by the French 
 and annexed to France in 1640. This is one of the most an- 
 cient cities in the Low Countries, and is divided by the little 
 river Crinchon into the City and the Town, the latter much the 
 largest and most modern. It has a very thick wall strengthened 
 by high r mparts, and a citadel with five strong bastions, sur- 
 rounded with double and deep fosses, in many places cut out of 
 the rock, ail the work of Vauban. The great square is full of 
 fine buildings, surrounded with piazzas. There are 10,000 in- 
 habitants, 11 parish churches, and the cathedral; in the latter 
 was carefully preserved in a silver shrine, enriched with precious 
 stones, a sort of manna which, they say, fell from heaven about 
 the year 369 during a great drought, and which St. Jerome 
 mentions in one of his epistles as having happened in his time. 
 Arras is celebrated for many popish miracles pretended to be 
 performed by this manna, when rain is much wanted, as well as 
 <\t the tomb of St. Wast, and by a candle brought here by the 
 Virgin Mary, It was formerly a bishop's see. 
 
|Q # AMIENS, a city and capital of the department of the 
 Somme, 75 miles N. of Paris, situated on the river Somme, 
 three branches of which run through it, over which it has three 
 bridges. Before the revolution, it was the capiial of Picardy, 
 and see of a bishop. The aspect of Amiens, as it is approached 
 by the road, resembles Canterbury ; the cathedral rising above 
 the town, the town as it were gathering round it s as its parent 
 and protector. It has very often been thought to resemble 
 Salisbury. It is clean and lively, and in many respects resem- 
 bles English towns of the third rate. The cathedral was built 
 by the English in the time of Henry VI. and the regency of the 
 Duke of Bedford. Though strictly Gothic, it is light, and 
 very tastefully ornamented ; it infinitely exceeds any cathedral 
 in England, with the exception of Westminster Abbey : the 
 nave is particularly celebrated ; it is really as superb and elegant 
 as the imagination can picture. There are also eleven parish 
 churches, an academy of belles lettres, and a citadel built by 
 Henry IV. which is accounted one of the best and most regular 
 in Europe, with a population of 35,000. Though some of the 
 houses are ancient, and the streets narrow, Amiens has not that 
 ruinous and close appearance of other towns on the Paris road. 
 It has been lately new paved, and is, in every respect, one of 
 the cleanest and most agreeable towns in France; the frequent 
 visits and long residence of Englishmen, have produced a very 
 sensible alteration in the manner of living amongst the inhabi- 
 tants- The general character of the people of A miens, is, that 
 they are lively, good-humoured, and less infected by the revo- 
 lutionary contagion than any town .in France. There are here 
 manufactories of cloth, carpets, calimancoes and baizes, 
 the three latter chiefly for domestic consumption. Every con- 
 siderable town in France has its public walk, and Amiens has 
 some of singular beauty. The holiday-dress of the peasantry in 
 this neighbourhood has been thus described : " The greater part 
 of the men wore three-cocked hats, some of straw, some of 
 pasteboard and some of beaver; jackets red, yellew and blue; 
 and breeches of the same fancy colours. The women were 
 dressed in a variety, both of shape and colour, which defies ail 
 description : when seen from a distance they had a very pic- 
 turesque appearance; the sun shining on the various colours 
 gave them the appearance of so many flowers."" Amiens is a 
 very cheap town for jiermatieht residence. The towns in France 
 are cheaper for strangers to live in than the villages . In 1697 
 this city was taken by the Spaniards, by stratagem : some sol- 
 diers were sent from the governor of Dourlens, in disguise, as 
 
12 
 
 peasants going to sell fruit, and gained admittance, Sunday, 
 March 10th ; being soon followed by other troops, the city sur- 
 rendered. It was soon after retaken by the French, assisted by 
 some English, under General Biron. Amiens is celebrated for 
 the peace with Buonaparte, in 1801, which, unfortunately, was 
 of such short continuance. 
 
 H # We must now return towards the coast to BOULOGNE, 
 a city and sea-port, in the department of the Straits of 
 Calais, on the mouth of the Lianne, 14 miles S. S. W. 
 of Calais, and 130 N. N. W. of Paris. It is divided into 
 Upper and Lower Town, the former of which is surrounded 
 with walls, and contains about 400 houses ; the latter lies nearer 
 to the sea, is not surrounded with walls, and, from its connex- 
 ion with the harbour, which has a mole, monopolizes almost 
 the whole of the trade. The harbour is difficult to enter, and 
 the anchorage not good ; there is not depth of water for ships 
 of war, and trading vessels must take advantage of the tide. 
 This was a station for the flat-bottomed boats, intended for the 
 invasion of England. Boulogne is very agreeably situated, and 
 the views from the Upper Town are delightful, especially when 
 there is high water in the river ; on the Paris side also are a 
 landscape and walk of exquisite beauty; the river, after some 
 smaller meanders, takes a wide reach through a beautiful vale, 
 and shortly after flows into the sea through two hills, which 
 open as it were to receive it. The beach, which is a flat, firm 
 sand, is the favourite promenade in the summer evenings, when 
 the tide serves ; this is likewise the parade. The principal 
 church at Boulogne is a good and respectable structure. The 
 people of Boulogne execrate the revolution, and not without 
 reason, as their environs have been in some degree spoiled by 
 its excesses. Several miles on the road, those sad monuments 
 of the popular phrensy, ruined chateaux, and churches con- 
 verted into stables or granaries, force the memory back upon 
 those melancholy times, when the property and religion of a 
 nation became the but of lawless bands. The town, upon the 
 whole, is clean, lively, brisk and flourishing. 
 
 1 2. Omitting places of inferior note we proceed to ABBE- 
 VILLE, sumamed La Pucelle> because it was never taken, 
 a town in the department of the Somme, 86 miles N. N. 
 W. of Paris, situated on the river Somme, formerly the 
 metropolis of Ponthieu in Picardy. It was fortified in 980 
 by Hugh Capet. It was the birth-place of Nicholas Sanson, 
 
13 
 
 Pierre du Val, and Philip Brier, three celebrated geographers. 
 The inhabitants are stated to exceed 22,000. Abbeville is 
 celebrated for its brood cloth manufacture ; the buildings of 
 Vanrobais, established by Louis XIV. are upon a very large 
 scale, and the cloths made here are reported to exceed even 
 those made in the west of England. There are also soap, linen 
 and carpet manufactures, though not of much celebrity. Abbe- 
 ville bore melancholy marks of the revolution ; the handsome 
 church destroyed, many of the best houses shut up, others 
 having only one room inhabited and the other floors turned 
 into granaries; innumerable chateaux along the road now only 
 the cells of beggars, or the lowest peasantry. 
 
 "[^DIEPPE, is a sea-port in the department of the Lower 
 Seine, 30 miles N. of Rouen, and about 64 S. of Hastings 
 in Sussex. It stands, at the mouth of the Bethune, with a good 
 harbour, but narrow, having about eighteen feet at high water. 
 English travellers who embark at Portsmouth, Chichester, 
 Brighton, or Hastings, frequently land here. In 1694 this 
 town was bombarded by an English fleet which laid it nearly 
 all in ashes ; it was rebuilt nine years after, on the plan of Ver- 
 sailles. There is a brisk trade here in fish, ivory toys and laces, 
 and an extensive tobacco manufacture, Dieppe is a large town, 
 containing about 21,000 inhabitants, the houses are very sub- 
 stantial, but old and shabby looking, with very large windows. 
 Bread, and provisions in general, about half the English price ; 
 but the butcher's meat is of a very inferior quality. In the 
 evening the streets, the boulevards, and the bourse, are filled 
 with groups of people of all descriptions, engaged in conver- 
 sation. There is here more appearance of enjoyment, and less 
 of positive suffering, than one usually meets with in towns of 
 this description, though Dieppe is said to be one of the coarsest 
 places in France. They have a singular, and undoubtedly a 
 very beneficial regulation here ; every person who is abroad 
 without a lanthorn, after ten o'clock at night, is taken into 
 custody by the police. The road from Dieppe to Rouen is a 
 magnificent object, wide, well formed and in excellent order; 
 running in a right line for leagues, and planted on each side 
 with apple and pear trees. The cross roads to the right and 
 left are marked by similar rows of luxuriant fruit-trees, as far as 
 the eye can reach. No hedges, and few villages or habitations 
 in sight. About 9 miles N. of Rouen, a different scene opens ; 
 descending suddenly into a beautiful valley, full of noble houses 
 and manufacturing establishments. A French, road is like a 
 
14 
 
 garden in the old French style, seldom more or less than a 
 straight line ruled from one end of the kingdom to the other. 
 No angles, no curvatures, no hedges. Imagine a road made 
 over a heath, and each side of it fenced off by a railing of hur- 
 dles, and you will have no imperfect idea of a great French 
 road. Within a mile indeed of a principal town the prospect 
 usually varies and improves. The road is then planted on each 
 side, and becomes a beautiful avenue through lofty and shady 
 trees. However some of the cross roads, not only equal, but 
 greatly exceed English roads of this description, in natural 
 beauty and scenery. The approach to Rouen is noble; every 
 object denotes prosperity and comfort. 
 
 14. ROUEN is a large, rich, populous and stately city, the 
 capital of the department of the Lower Seine, 69 miles 
 N.W. of Paris, situated on the Seine, and surrounded with 
 mountains. Before the revolution it was the capital of Nor- 
 mandy, and an archbishop's see. It is seven miles in circuit, 
 and is calculated to contain 73,000 inhabitants. The streets 
 are narrow, crooked and dirty, and the houses are mostly built 
 of wood ; notwithstanding which, it is one of the most opulent, 
 commercial, and important places in France. The principal 
 public buildings are the great hall of the palace, in which the 
 parliament of Rouen formerly met, the old castle, and the ca- 
 thedral. The cathedral, which has three towers, is one of the 
 most magnificent monuments of Gothic architecture in France. 
 Rouen contains upwards of 7,000 houses and 36 parish churches, 
 and is a principal seat of the cotton manufacture ; it is in fact 
 the Manchester of France. Formerly there were 40 convents in 
 Rouen ; they are mostly now the property of individuals and are 
 applied to a variety of useful purposes. That of the Bene- 
 dictines, a noble structure, is the Hotel de Ville. The libraries 
 of the other convents have been collected and deposited in this 
 building for public use. It is open five days in the week; 
 a splendid gallery of pictures, collected in the same manner, is 
 also open, and really open to the public. The garden formerly 
 belonging to this convent, is kept in good order, and forms an 
 agreeable promenade. In the market-place is a statue of the 
 Maid of Orleans who was burnt here by the English for a witch. 
 The suburb of St. Sever communicates with the city by a bridge 
 of boats, which rises and falls with the tide, and is made to 
 open so as to admit the passage of ships; it is paved,, and is 
 270 paces long. The two Corneilles and Fontenelle were born 
 in Rouen. Besides the cotton manufacture there are others of 
 
15 
 
 cloth, and one of oil of vitriol, the only one in France. In 1418 
 Henry V. began a siege, which continued five months, during 
 which time the inhabitants defended the city nobly, and endured 
 the most severe hardships, but were at last compelled to surren- 
 der, on condition of paying 345,000 crowns of gold to the con- 
 queror. 
 
 15 # LOUVIERS, is a handsome, fortified town, in the depart- 
 ' ment of the Eure, 12 miles S. of Rouen, and 10 N. of Evreux. 
 It is seated in a fertile plain, on a beautiful clear stream, the river 
 Eure, of which full advantage appears to be taken for working 
 the machinery used in the fine cloth manufacture for which 
 Louviers is so famous. Here are several noble establishments 
 for spinning woollen yarn, finishing the cloth, &c. ; and the 
 shearing machines perform their office with the greatest preci- 
 sion. The French appear to be wide awake to mechanical im- 
 provements ; indeed the quality of the cloth proves their skill 
 too well to leave a doubt of the excellence of their implements. 
 The work people, of whom women form by far the principal 
 part, appear very decent and comfortable. From Rouen to 
 Louviers is an enchanting country. The valley of the Seine, 
 in breadth, beauty and fertility, is almost unequalled. 
 
 The river SEINE rises about two leagues S. of Aigny le Due, 
 in the department of the Cote d'Or, $ud; flowing by Chatilion, 
 Bar, Troyes, Nogent, Melun, Paris, St. Germain, Rouen, Cau- 
 debec, &c. falls into the English Channel at Havre de Grace. 
 
 16. ^ Ve now turn *° ^ e west to P ursue our route along the 
 ' coast, and notice HAVRE DE GRACE, a sea-port, 
 in the department of the Lower Seine, 48 miles W. of 
 Rouen, situated in a flat, marshy soil, at the mouth of 
 the Seine. Francis I. erected it into a town, and called 
 it Ville de Francois, which was afterward changed to the 
 name it now bears, on account of a chapel and the har- 
 bour formed by the mouth of the river. The harbour has 
 particular advantages above all others on this coast; the 
 water does not begin to ebb till three hours after the full tide, 
 which gives an opportunity for a great number of ships to 
 depart in the same tide. This is attributed to the current of 
 the Seine which crosses the mouth of the harbour. The basin 
 is reserved for ships of war, with sufficient room for thirty, and 
 depth for vessels of 60 guns. Before the revolution it was the 
 seat of a governor-general, and other officers ; it contained two 
 churches, three convents, an hospital, and town-house ; and an 
 
16 
 
 arsenal, magazines, &c. necessary for equipping ships of war. 
 It is defended by lofty walls, large ditches filled with water and 
 furnished with sluices, and a regular citadel with bastions, &c. 
 In 1694, it was bombarded by the English fleet, under Lord 
 Berkeley and Captain Benbow, and several houses destroyed; 
 and in 1759 it was again bombarded by Lord Rodney, and set 
 fire to several times, and a great number of flat-bottomed boats 
 destroyed, that were intended to bring troops over to invade 
 England. 
 
 |7. CAEN, a city, and capital of the department of Calvados, 
 is 65 miles W. S. W. of Rouen, and 125 W. of Paris, on the 
 rivers Orne and Odon. It was once the capital of Lower Nor- 
 mandy, with an university founded by Henry VL of England 
 and renewed by Charles VII. and an academy of the belles-let- 
 tres. The castle, the wall, and four towers here, were built by 
 the English ; the Place Roy ale was the most beautiful of all 
 Normandy, large, regular and well paved, and surrounded on 
 three sides with fine houses. In the year 1346 it was besieged 
 and taken by Edward III. after a severe contest, and the loss of 
 a great number of lives. William the Conqueror lies buried 
 here. 
 
 18 # CHERBOURG, a sea-port, in the department of the Chan- 
 nel, is 44 miles N. of Coutances, and 185 W. N. W. of Paris, 
 situated at the bottom of a large bay, between Cape Barfleur 
 and Cape La Hogue, containing about 6000 inhabitants. For- 
 merly it was the seat of a governor and admiralty ; it pretends 
 to great antiquity. Ship-building and the woollen-stuff manu- 
 facture form the principal employment of the inhabitants, 
 English travellers, embarking at Weymouth and other ports of 
 Devon and Cornwall, sometimes land here. In 1758 the town 
 was taken and plundered by the English, the port destroyed, 
 and the ships burned in the harbour. This port has always 
 been considered by the French as an object of great importance, 
 and immense sums have been expended in constructing piers, 
 deepening and enlarging the harbour, and erecting fortifications, 
 Vessels of 900 tons can be admitted at high water, and those of 
 250 at low. About half a mile from the town is a cliff or rock 
 of prodigious height, from the summit of which, they say, King 
 John, in a tempestuous night, with his own hands, threw his 
 nephew Prince Arthur into the sea, which then flowed at the 
 foot of the rock. 
 
17 
 
 1 9. C0UTANCES, is a city, and capital of the department of the 
 Channel, 185 miles W. of Paris, situated near the sea, once 
 
 the seat of a governor, and a bishop's see, with a fine cathedral, 
 at the consecration of which William the Conqueror assisted'! 
 The population is about 5000; they carry on a brisk trade in 
 grain, butter and cattle, and manufacture some woollen and 
 linen cloth. 
 
 20. Thirty miles S. of Coutances, in the department of the 
 ' Channel, is the city of AVRANCHES. It is situated on 
 
 a mountain, at the foot of which flows the river See, one 
 mile and a half from the English Channel. Before the revolu- 
 tion it was a bishop's see, and besides the cathedral had 
 three parishes, a convent, a public school, a college and an 
 hospital. The cathedral stands on a hill, which terminates 
 abruptly, the front of the church extending to the extreme 
 verge of it, and overhanging the precipice. It bears the marks 
 of high antiquity, but the towers are decayed in many places, 
 though its original construction has been wonderfully strong. 
 In this church Henry II. of England received absolution from 
 the papal nuncio for the murder of Thomas-a-Becket, and the 
 stone is still shown on which he knelt during the performance of 
 that ceremony. The ruins of the castle of Avranches are very 
 extensive, and beneath lies a rich extent of country, covered 
 with orchards and abounding in grain. Avranches is an ancient 
 town, of very mean appearance ; before Bretagne was united to 
 the crown, it was called the Boulevard, or Bulwark, of France ; 
 yet the Bretons took it and destroyed the fortifications in 1203 : 
 however, in the reign of St. Louis they were rebuilt. 
 
 2] . On this coast, in the Bay of Avranches, 7 miles S. W. of 
 the city of Avranches, is the celebrated MONT ST. MI- 
 CHEL. This extraordinary rock, for it is no more, Nature has 
 completely fortified on one side, by its craggy and almost per- 
 pendicular ascent, which renders it impregnable. The other 
 parts are surrounded by walls, fenced with semilunar towers in 
 the Gothic manner, sufficiently strong to resist any attack. The 
 road to it is entirely across the sands, which are only passable at 
 low water. At the foot of the mountain begins a street or town, 
 which winds round its base to a considerable height. Above 
 are chambers in which prisoners of state are confined, and on 
 the summit is the abbey, built in the form ftf« cross, occupying 
 a prodigious space of ground, and of a strength and solidity 
 equal to its enormous size. In the reign of Childebert II. (708,) 
 
18 
 
 there was a bishop of Avranehes, named St. Aubert. To this 
 holy man the archangel Michael was pleased to appear one 
 night, and order him to go to this rock, then uninhabited and 
 covered with wood, and there construct a church. St. Aubert, 
 who seems to have been a little incredulous, treated it as a dream ; 
 the angel came again, repeated his injunction, and, not being 
 obeyed, the third time he, byway of imprinting it on the bishop's 
 memory, made a hole in his scull, by touching it with his thumb. 
 Here fable ends ; and history informs us, that Richard the se- 
 cond duke of Normandy began to build the abbey. It was com- 
 pleted in 1070, under William the Conqueror. It has thirteen 
 pillars on each side, nine of 25 feet in circumference, which 
 stand upon the solid rock ; and over the centre of the church is 
 a large square tower. They all seem to be built as if designed 
 to outlive the ravages of time and the convulsions of nature. 
 The treasury of the church was crowded with innumerable relics ; 
 the good bishop's scull, in a shrine of gold, with a chrystal 
 over the orifice, an immense golden cockle-shell, and an arm of 
 Saint Richard, king of England, are worth mentioning. The 
 number of pilgrims who used to resort to this place, and that not 
 long ago, annually amounted to 10,000. The chambers of the ab- 
 bey are so numerous, that 13,000 troops might be disposed of 
 there without inconvenience ; and the subterranean chambers in the 
 mountain are also so numerous as to be unknown to the guides 
 themselves. 
 
 There are certain dungeons, called Ouhliettes, into which 
 they were accustomed formerly to let down malefactors guilty of 
 very heinous crimes ; they provided these wretches with a loaf of 
 bread and a bottle of wine, and then they were totally forgotten 
 and left to perish by hunger in the dark vaults of the rock. It was 
 long considered as a state-prison, and there are many tales of 
 cruelty, blood and horror told of it. There was a cage pre- 
 served here, in a dungeon, composed of prodigious wooden bars ; 
 the wicket for admission was 12 inches thick, the space it com- 
 prised was 12 feet square and about 20 feet high, which was the 
 abode of many eminent victims, whose names and miseries are 
 now forgotten. 
 
 The hole of Montgomeri is another curiosity of ?4ont St. 
 Michel. In a corner of one of the chambers there is a kind 
 of window ; between it and the wall of the building was a 
 very deep space or hollow of near a hundred feet perpendicu- 
 lar, and at the bottom was another window opening to the sea. 
 The Count de Montgomeri, who unintentionally killed Henry II. 
 at a tournament, being driven from his fortresses, retired to a 
 
19 
 
 rook, called the Tombelaine, a mountain similar to Mont St. 
 Michel, in having a castle and being accessible only at low water, 
 but a short distance from it ; here, with his followers, he lived in 
 security. Being desirous to surprise Mont St. Michel, he found 
 means to engage in his interests one of the monks resident in 
 the abbey, who promised to give him the signal for his enter- 
 prise by displaying a handkerchief. The treacherous monk, 
 having made the signal, betrayed him, and armed all his asso- 
 ciates, who waited Montgomery's arrival. The Count came, at- 
 tended by fifty chosen soldiers, desperate, and capable of any 
 attempt. They crossed the sand, and, having placed their scal- 
 ing ladders, mounted one by one ; as they came to the top, they 
 were dispatched each in turn without noise. Montgomeri, who 
 followed last, at length discovered the perfidy, and escaped again 
 to the Tombelaine. 
 
 In the year 1090, Robert, Duke of Normandy, and 
 William Rufus, King of England, sons of William the Con- 
 queror, besieged their younger brother Henry a long time 
 in Mont St. Michel. The Prince could never have been re- 
 duced to surrender by force ; but he was in want of water, and 
 from that necessity was on the point of yielding up the fortress, 
 when Hobert, with the benevolence and humanity which marked 
 his character, sent him some pipes of wine ; and this succour 
 enabled Henry to hold out. Rufus reproached Robert for his 
 conduct ; " Shall we then," said he, £ < suffer our brother to die 
 of thirst?" — And what return did he meet with from Henry? 
 An imprisonment of twenty-eight years in a vaulted chamber of 
 Cardiff castle, where he expired. — Before the revolution the ab- 
 bey was a Benedictine monastery, and gave name to an order 
 of knights founded by leuis XI. The town itself is as great 
 an object of curiosity as any other part of the Mount. There 
 are many houses m it upwards of 600 years old ; the population 
 in time of peace does not exceed 200. Formerly, upon entering 
 the town, every body was obliged to leave all sorts of arms at 
 the gate; even a knife was not permitted to be brought in. 
 
 22. Let us wow proceed to ST. MALO, which is a sea-part, 
 and principal place of a district, in the department of Ille 
 and Vilaine, 42 miles N. of Rennes, situated on a small island, 
 joined to the continent by a mole, at the head of which is a 
 strong fort. Before the revolution it was a bishop's see. The 
 harbour is large, and one of the most frequented in France, 
 though at low water almost dry, and at all times difficult to 
 enter on account of the rocks which surround it, Anne of Bre- 
 
20 
 
 tagne, who built the castle, directed the engineer to construct 
 it on the plan of her coach, which was accordingly done : a large 
 square area within constitutes the body ; two small towers in the 
 fore part answer to the fore wheels of the carriage, as two others 
 of a larger size do to the hinder ones ; a projection in front 
 forms the pole, and an arched niche behind corresponds to the 
 place where the servant was used to stand. The place is strong 
 by its situation on a peninsula, being connected to the land only 
 by a narrow mole or causeway of about 700 yards in length ; it 
 has also 250 pieces of cannon mounted on its ramparts, but no 
 out-works, and its fortifications could not sustain a long siege ; 
 but it is strong by nature and art towards the sea. St. Malo has 
 always been a port for privateers, and has, consequently, in time 
 of war, been very troublesome to the trade of England. In 1693 
 it was bombarded by Capt Benbow, when some damage was 
 done to the town. Some other attempts have been made, but 
 without success. In the wars of the League, the inhabitants of 
 St* Malo, having surprised the castle, murdered the governor, 
 whom they suspected to be in the King's interest, divided among 
 them his treasures, which were very great, and declared openly 
 for the League. 
 
 23. We must notice ST. BRIEUX, as a city, and capital of the 
 department of the North Coast, a port, and bishop's see, 50 
 miles N. W. of Rennes. I t is situated among mountains, which in- 
 tercept the sight of the sea, though little more than a mile distant. 
 
 24. 1'ANNION, a town in the department of the North Coast, 
 20 miles N. E. of Morlaix, deserves notice only from the 
 inhabitants here, and in the neighbourhood, speaking the Welch 
 language, which is said 'to have been brought hither by the 
 Britons in the fifth century. 
 
 25. MORLAIX, a town and principal place of a district, in 
 
 the department of Finisterre, is 30 miles E.N.E. of Brest. 
 It is situated on a navigable river, of the same name, 
 with the tide of the English Channel coming up to it. which 
 renders it a place of trade. The harbour is defended by a fort, 
 which stands upon an island. The church is a singular struc- 
 ture and the hospital very handsome. 
 
 2() t BREST, accounted one of the keys of the kingdom, 
 is a sea-port, in the department of Finisterre, about 320 
 
21 
 
 miles W. of Paris, has one of the best harbours in France, 
 and a safe road capable of containing" 500 men-of-war, in 
 8, 10 and 15 fathoms, at low water. The coast on both sides 
 is well fortified; the entrance, called the Goulet, is narrow 
 and difficult, with covered rocks, that make it dangerous to 
 those not well acquainted with it. The town stands upon a 
 declivity, and the streets are narrow and crooked. It contains 
 two parishes and a marine seminary. The arsenal is an im- 
 mense and superb building*, the quay is above a mile in length, 
 and the dock-yards are well constructed. It is the seat of a 
 governor, an admiralty board, and a municipality. In 1694 
 a detachment of the English fleet was sent to seize on Brest ; 
 but, after an unsuccessful attempt to land in Camaret Bay, 
 they were compelled to give up the enterprize, after having 
 lost 700 men, and General Tollemache, who died in conse- 
 quence of a wound in his thigh. 
 
 27 The first of the French islands that we shall mention is 
 'USH ANT, or OUESSANT, an island in the English 
 Channel, in the department of Finisterre, about 12 miles from 
 the continent, and 30 W. of Brest. It is about 10 miles in 
 circumference, and contains several hamlets, and a small port 
 defended by a castle. It has about 700 inhabitants. 
 
 2g. From Ushant let us coast along- to QU1MPER, a city and 
 capital of the department of Finisterre, about 35 miles 
 S. of Brest. It stands on the river Oder ; and was formerly 
 a place of great importance, a bishop's see, a governor's seat, 
 an admiralty, &c. The walls of this city are so thick as to 
 serve fur the promenade. — Let us embark at Quimper, and, 
 sailing by the Glanan or Gilenan Islands, touch at 
 
 29. BELLE ISLE, an island in the Bay of Biscay, on the 
 western coast of France, about 30 miles S. of Vannes, a 
 little to the N. of the mouth of the Loire. It is nearly 12 miles 
 long, and from 2 to 4 broad, surrounded by sharp rocks, 
 which leave only three fortified passages to reach the island. 
 The soil is various, rocky salt marshes, and fertile grounds. 
 Palais is the capital ; it contains three other small towns, and 
 about twenty villages. It was taken by the British in the year 
 1761, but was restored at the peace in 1763. 
 
 We can now sail back to L'ORIENT, a sea-port and seat 
 of a tribunal, in the department of Morbihan, 80 miles 
 
22 
 
 S. W. of Rennes. It is situated at the bottom of a bay, at the 
 mouth of the river PonscrofT, was built in the year 1720, by 
 the French East India Company, and has a good harbour, though 
 not capable of containing many ships of war. In 1746 an un- 
 successful attempt was made upon this town by the British 
 forces under General Sinclair and Admiral Lestock. It contains 
 about 15,000 inhabitants. 
 
 31 . VANNES deserves mention as a sea-port and capital of the 
 department of Morbihan, 58 miles N.W. of Nantes, and 
 
 255 W. by S of Paris, It stands at the union of two small 
 rivers, which form a harbour in the lake Morbihan. It has two 
 suburbs, one of which is larger than the town itself ; before the 
 revolution it was the see of a bishop. The principal commerce 
 is in corn, bar-iron and fish. 
 
 32. ^ e ma y next J ust ment i° n GUERANDE, a town, and 
 principal place of a district, in the department of the 
 
 Lower Loire, 40 miles W. of Nantes. It is situated near 
 the sea, and is remarkable for its salt-works, — -Let us here again 
 embark, and touch at 
 
 33. NOIRMOUTIER, an island in the Bay of Biscay, on the 
 western coast of France, separated from the continent by a 
 
 strait of about a quarter of a league in width. It lies to the 
 south of the mouth of the river Loire. It has a town of the same 
 name, with a harbour and bay on the eastern coast, which is 
 defended by a fort called Fort Si. Pierre. This island being a 
 celebrated place of resort for the French royalists of La Vendee, 
 was taken on the 2nd of January, 1794, by the republicans ; 
 when 800 royalists were killed, and 1200 made prisoners. 
 
 34 DIEU ISLE, or ISLE BE YEU, is a small island in the 
 Bay of Biscay, 15 miles S. of Noirmoutier. This island 
 was taken by the English and French royalists, on the 5th of 
 October, 1795. 
 
 35. RE, or RHE, ISLE DE, an island in the Bay of Biscay, 
 ' near the western coast of France, separated from the coast 
 of Vendee by the Strait of Breton. It lies about 7 miles 
 W. of La Rochelle, is about 16 miles in length, and 3 in 
 breath. The principal town is St. Martin de Re; the chief 
 products are bitter wine, salt, brandy and aniseed. 
 
23 
 
 3f> The next and largest of the French islands is OLERON, 
 " an island 5 miles from the western coast of France, 
 at the mouth of the river Charente, 15 miles long-, and 5 
 broad. It is separated frpn the continent by the channel 
 called Pertuis de Maubuisson, and from the island of Re by the 
 Pertuis d 1 Antioche. The town of Oleron is situated on the 
 eastern coast, and is the chief place of a canton, in the district of 
 Marennes. The population consists of nearly 12,000, who are 
 distributed in the town and several villages. . The soil is fertile, 
 but the principal part of the inhabitants are seamen. The 
 Tower of Chassiron, a light-house, is on the north point of 
 this island, near the coast of France, which has two fires to 
 distinguish it from the Tower of Cordovan. In this island King 
 Richard I. of England composed those maritime laws, which 
 are called the Laws of Oleron, and are generally acknowledged 
 by all the powers of Europe as the basis of their marine 
 constitutions. 
 
 3*7 u Having* landed at Marennes, a sea-port with about 5000 
 inhabitants carrying on a brisk trade in salt, we push on to 
 SAINTES, a city, and capital of the department of the 
 Lower Charente, seate'd on an eminence, surrounded by 
 the Charente, 26 miles S.E. of Rochfort, and 202 S.S.W. of 
 Paris. It has a harbour for small vessels, and before the revo- 
 lution was the capital of Saintonge, and a bishop's see. It was 
 a Roman colony ; and those conquerors of the earth, who polished 
 the nations they subdued, have left behind them the traces of 
 their magnificence. In a hollow valley, between two mountains, 
 and almost adjoining to one of the suburbs, are the remains of 
 the amphitheatre ; though in the last stage of decay, its appear- 
 ance is august and venerable. In some parts scarcely any of 
 the arches are to be seen ; but the east end is still in very good 
 preservation. From its situation in a valley, and from the ruins 
 of an aqueduct which conveyed water to the town from nearly 
 three leagues distance, it has been supposed that Naumachiae were 
 represented in it. A triumphal arch, on which is an inscription 
 in Roman letters, likewise merits attention ; it was erected to the 
 memory of Germanicus, on the news of his death, so universally 
 lamented throughout the empire. There are many other anti- 
 quities well worthy of inspection and examination. The town 
 has nothing interesting except its remains of Roman grandeur; 
 it is built with great irregularity, the streets are narrow and 
 winding, the houses mean, and almost all of them are some cen- 
 turies old. The cathedral has been repeatedly defaced and in- 
 
24 
 
 jured by Normans and Huguonots ; one tower only escaped their 
 rage, which was built by Charlemagne, and is the largest in all 
 France ; it is of enormous magnitude, both in height and cir- 
 cumference. 
 
 Though the river Charente, which surrounds this city, 
 as the Severn does that of Shrewsbury, cannot eonpare 
 with the Loire or Rhone in size and depth, yet the actions which 
 have been performed on its banks, in different ages, will render 
 it immortal in history. At Taillebourg, only six miles from 
 hence, nearer its mouth, was fought the battle between Henry 
 the Third of England and St. Louis, where the latter was con- 
 queror, and in which he gave proofs of undaunted prowess and 
 intrepidity, by defending, almost alone, the passage of a bridge 
 against the whole English army during some minutes. Francis 
 the First, one of the most amiable and accomplished princes that 
 ever reigned in France, was born in 1494, at Cognac, only 
 seven leagues higher up on the Charente. Two leagues beyond 
 (Jognac, still nearer its source, is the famous plain of Jarnac, 
 where the Huguonots were beaten, in 1569, by the Duke of 
 Anjou ; and where the great Louis, first Prince of Conde, was as- 
 sassinated by Montesquieu. 
 
 gg^Let us once more descend the Charente, and about 12 
 miles from its mouth we shall find the famous sea-port 
 of ROCHFOIIT, which is 21 miles S. by E. of Rochelle, 
 and 250 S. W. of Paris. It is in the department of the Lower 
 Charente, has a deep commodious harbour, well sheltered from 
 all hurricanes, with vast barracks, an armoury, excellent docks, 
 rope-walks, well-stored naval magazines, a marine academy, and 
 an hopital for seamen. It w r as founded by Louis XIV. in 
 the midst of marshes, expressly drained for that purpose, and 
 was called by Colbert " La Ville d' Or," from the prodigious sums 
 expended there ; it was originally well fortified, but its distance 
 from the sea rendering it sufficiently secure, the fortifications 
 have been partially neglected. The town is laid out with great 
 beauty and elegance ; the streets are uniformly broad, and in 
 straight lines, extending through the whole place from side to 
 side; but the houses are low, though regular. Large vessels 
 can lie afloat in the harbour at low water, well secured from all 
 winds, as well as from annoyance by enemies ; and it is remark- 
 able that the worm, so destructive to the bottoms of ships, does 
 not bite here. The port is as important as Brest or Toulon. It 
 is supposed to contain 10,000 inhabitants; but the neighhour-? 
 ing salt-marshes render the air unwholesome, and the water is 
 
25 
 
 of a bad quality. The number oi workmen formerly employed 
 at Hochfort was about 900, and to these were added 600 galley- 
 slaves, who were occupied in the most painful and laborious 
 service. They were chained two and two. with heavy fetters, 
 constantly guarded, and confined in a long" building erected for 
 that purpose in the centre of the yard; some of these wretches 
 were thus detained for a term of years, others during life. Hie 
 approach to the town up the river is well defended by several 
 forts ; one of which, on the isle of Aix, together with the island 
 on which it stands, was taken, in 1757, by Capt. Howe, in the 
 Magnanime, after half an hour's resistance, the whole garrison, 
 consisting of nearly COO men, being made prisoners. 
 
 39. ROCHELLE is a celebrated sea-port, in the department 
 of Lower Charente, 00 miles N. of Bourdeaux, and 236 
 
 W. S. W. of Paris. Before the revolution, it was a bishop's see 
 and capital of Aunis. The harbour is safe and good, though it 
 is not very deep, and its entrance is narrow. The climate here 
 is not very good, in consequence of the salt marshes. Its trade 
 in general is very great, especially to the French colonies in 
 Africa and America. It has five gates and the houses are 
 mostly supported by piazzas ; the streets are in straight lines. 
 The population is about 15,000. In the 16th century the 
 inhabitants joined in the reformation, fortified the town, and 
 held out a siege. In 10*22, Louis XIII. in order to compel 
 them to surrender, ordered Fort Louis to be erected, at the 
 entrance of the harbour, and in 1(528, to prevent their receiving 
 any succours by sea, a mole was raised by Cardinal Richlieu, 
 4482 feet in extent, which surrounded the haven, the remains 
 of which are still to be seen. Famine at length obliged them, 
 the same year, to capitulate ; in consequence of which their 
 privileges were taken away, and the fortifications demolished ; 
 but, in the reign of Louis XIV. these were again repaired by 
 M. Vauban. 
 
 40. FONTENAY LE COMTE is a city and capital of the de- 
 partment of La Vendee, situated in a fertile valley, on the 
 
 Vendee, 58 miles S. 8. E. of Nantes, and 16 N. of Niort. 
 There are about 7000 inhabitants, whose principal commerce 
 is in woollen cloth, stuffs and cattle, of which they sell a 
 great number at their three annual fairs. 
 
 41 . Without further delay let us describe NANTES, a city, 
 and capital of the department of the Lower Loire, situated 
 
 B 
 
26 
 
 on the Loire, 70 miles N. of Kochelle, and 217 S.W. of Parks 
 former]y the capital of a district called Nantois in Bretagne. 
 Before the revolution, it was a bishop's see, the seat of an inten- 
 dancy, a collection, a chamber of accounts, a board of finances, 
 a mint-office, a country court, a bailiwick, a preVote*, an admi- 
 ralty, a forest-court, and a consulate. Exclusive of the cathedral, 
 and a collegiate church, it contained eleven parish churches, 
 fourteen convents, two hospitals, one college, and an university, 
 founded about 1460, a society of agriculture and arts, a school 
 of anatomy and surgery, and a large rope manufacture. This 
 is one of the greatest trading cities in the kingdom, chiefly to 
 the French colonies, America, Spain, Portugal and other parts, 
 though ships of burden can come no farther up the Loire 
 than to Paimbceuf, a market town, where the cargoes are put 
 into smaller vessels, and carried to Nantes. It is large, popu- 
 lous, well situated, and has four suburbs ; is one of the most 
 ancient cities in France, the Condivunum of the Romans, 
 and the Civitas Nannetum of Ca?sar. It is mentioned by seve- 
 ral Latin writers, as a town of most considerable population 
 under the Roman prefects. In every respect it is a noble city, 
 and is situated as beautifully as it is advantageously, being 
 built on the ascent and summit of a hill, at the foot of which is 
 the Loire, the river of love ; the inhabitants on whose banks 
 have, from time immemorial, been all reputed as native poets. 
 The Loire is perhaps the only river in Europe, which is bor- 
 dered by hills and hillocks, and which, in so long a course, so 
 seldom passes through a dead level. Hence the rising grounds 
 of the Loire have, from the earliest periods, been selected for 
 the sites of castles, monasteries, abbeys and chateaux. The 
 scenery along the Loire has a character which cannot be found 
 in any other kingdom, on any other river. Towns, wind-mills, 
 steeples, ancient castles and abbeys still entire ; others with 
 nothing remaining but their lofty walls ; hills covered with 
 vines, and alternate woods and corn-fields, altogether ferm a 
 chain of landscapes which remind one of a poem, and suc- 
 cessively refresh, delight, animate and exalt the imagination. 
 Let him who is oppressed with sorrow traverse the banks of the 
 Loire ; let him appeal from man to nature ; from the busy 
 world and scenes of vice, to scenes of innocence and loveliness, 
 groves, meads and flowers, — his must be no common sorrow 
 which would not be forgot on the banks of the Loire! In the 
 middle of the stream opposite Nantes are several islets, on 
 which are houses and gardens; and which, at sun-set, when 
 there are marquees and dancing parties on them, have a most 
 
27 
 
 pleasing effect Nantes possesses one of the finest quays in 
 Europe, extending about a mile in length, and covered with 
 buildings almost approaching to palaces. The bridge is nearly 
 a mile and a half long. On a hill to the eastward is the castle 
 in which the Dukes of Bretagne used to bold their court ; it is 
 still entire, though built nearly 900 years ago: the repairs 
 having been made in the character of the original structure, it 
 remains a most perfect specimen of the age in which it was 
 built. One room, the hall or banquetting-room, as in all 
 Gothic castles, is of an immense size, and lofty in proportion. 
 The inn, called the Hotel of Henry JV. is one of the largest 
 and most magnificently furnished in Europe. The population is 
 estimated at 80,000. A great quantity of salt is made he*e 
 and in the neighbourhood, Nantes is celebrated for its brandy ; 
 but more particularly so by the edict issued in 1598, by 
 Henry the Great, for granting to the Protestants the public 
 exercise of their religion ; but this edict was revoked in 1685 
 by Louis XIV. which gave a blow to the manufactures of 
 France, that they have not yet recovered. 
 
 The LOIRE is the principal river in France in every respect; 
 whether considered as to the length of its course, the purposes 
 of commerce to which it is applied, the extraordinary beauty 
 and fertility of the country through which it passes, or the 
 number and importance of the cities upon its banks. It rises 
 in the mountains of the Cevennes, 18 miles N. by W. of Au- 
 benas, in the department of the Ardeche, begins to be navi- 
 gable at Roanne, and, flowing by Nevers, Cosne, Chatillon, Or- 
 leans, Blois, Amboise, Tours, Saumur, Nantes, kc, &c. falls into 
 the Bay of Biscay, below Paimbceuf, 30 miles W. of Nantes. 
 
 42. ^° town °f no * e 0CClH 's in our route until we come to 
 RENNES, a city and capital of the department of Hie 
 
 and Vilaine, 58 miles N. of Nantes, and 200 W. S. W. of 
 Paris. Before the revolution it was the see of a bishop, capital 
 of Bretagne, and a parliament city. It is situated on the 
 Vilaine, which divides it into two parts; is large and populous, 
 containing eight parish churches, besides the cathedral, and 
 several convents. There are many good houses, and the streets 
 after the fire, which nearly consumed the whole town in 1720, 
 were built with great regularity. The unsuccessful siege of 
 this place by Edward III. is much celebrated. 
 
 43. We proceed in a N.E. direction to ALLJNCON, a city and 
 capital of the department of the Orne, 105 miles VV. S. W. 
 
 b 2 
 
28 
 
 of Paris. It was formerly the metropolis of the dukedom of 
 Alencon, and a generality. It is situated on the river Sarte, 
 which runs into the Loire. The walls are traversed with towers 
 and surrounded with ditches ; the greater part of the streets 
 are tolerably wide, and the houses well built ; there is only one 
 parish church, which contains some remarkable tombs of the 
 ancient dukes. 
 
 44. ^ e must not leave this neighbourhood without noticing 
 the once celebrated Abbey of LA TRAPPE, situated in a 
 deep and woody valley, a few miles to the N. E. of Alenc^on, in 
 the same department. The hills and forests whirh surround it 
 seem to be disposed in such a manner as if they wished to con- 
 ceal it from the rest of the world. It was founded in 1140 by 
 ftotrou, Comte du Perche, consecrated in 1214, and reformed 
 in 16G2 by the Abbe de Ranci ; to the latter circumstance it is 
 indebted for its wonderful celebrity. It was called " L'Abbaye 
 de Notre Dame de la Maison Bleu de la Trappe \ y and the chief 
 object of the order was, that the monks should be mutual guards 
 upon each other; and fcr this purpose they were never suffered 
 to be alone except iri their cel-s during their few hours of rest : 
 they ate, drank, worked, reposed and prayed all together, in- 
 creasing their austerities by emulation of pains and sufferings. 
 They were also famous for keeping perpetual silence, unless 
 when spoken to by the superior, or in their religious confer- 
 ences, or to accuse themselves, and never tasted meat or wine, 
 except when sick. They fasted continually, and were in all 
 respects the most rigorous ascetics in Europe. In the apart- 
 ments allotted for the reception of visitors, tablets were hung- 
 up on the walls, on which were written some of the regulations 
 of the order; such as the keeping a perpetual silence in the 
 cloister, the avoiding a meeting with any of the monks, direct- 
 ing strangers to address themselves to the porter alone if they 
 wanted any thing, forbidding their entry into the cloisters, or 
 house, ©r walking in the garden at certain hours, &c. The 
 vestibule also was filled with passages drawn from scripture ; so 
 that it has been quaintly said, " Here the walls speak, the men 
 say not a word." 
 
 The whole building was very plain and simple: one end of 
 the church* which was divided into two by a high balustrade, 
 was built so as to resemble the poop of a ship; there were two 
 altars ; the grand altar was plain, sculptured in an ancient man- 
 ner, having an image of the Virgin over it; on the pedestal 
 upon which this image was placed, the word ©EOTOKJQ- was 
 
29 
 
 inscribed, which signifies " To the Mother of God." The mode 
 of life observed here among the religious has be^en already glanced 
 at; it was surprisingly strict and severe; almost their whole time 
 was occupied in religious exercises, praying, fasting, and work- 
 ing ; a very short space indeed was allotted to repose, if so it 
 may be called, which was to be sought in their clothes upon a 
 board ; their food consisted of very brown, coarse and branny 
 bread, pottage made of herbs, peas, or lentils, spinage, beans, 
 and other vegetables, but no butter or oil ; their drink was 
 water and a very small quantity of cider. 
 
 However we may condemn the practices of these people, as 
 feeing not only useless but injurious to society, we must still 
 reverence the piety of their motives ; they thought they were 
 serving God in the most acceptable manner, and supposed the 
 more severe their bodily afflictions and mortifications were, the 
 more pure their heavenly joys woiJd be. 
 
 45. REMANS or MANS, a city and capital of the depart- 
 ment of the Sarte, is 46 miles N. of Tours, and 110 S,W, 
 of Paris. It is situated on a declivity at the confluence of the 
 Huisne and Sarte, and contains about 12,000 inhabitants. It 
 has excellent poultry, and its wax and stuffs are famous. Be- 
 fore the revolution it was the metropolis of Maine, the see of a 
 bishop, the seat of a governor, an electorate, a bailiwick, &c. 
 It contained a cathedral, two collegiate and thirteen parish 
 churches, and twelve religious houses. 
 
 4(J. LAVAL is a city and capital of the department of Mayenne, 
 ' 40 miles E. of Rennes, and 156 W. S. W. of Paris. It is 
 situated on the river Mayenne, and contains about 18,000 
 inhabitants. Here, and in the neighbourhood, are several 
 manufactures of linen, which form a very considerable com- 
 merce. 
 
 47. The next place of note, directly S. of Laval, is ANGERS, 
 a city and capital of the department of Mayenne and 
 Loire, situated on both sides of the Mayenne, 60 miles W. of 
 Tours, 50 E. N. E. of Nantes, and 175 S. W. of Paris. Before 
 the revolution, it was the capital of Anjou, and a bishopric. 
 The first walls of this city were built by John, King of Eng- 
 land, who was Count of Anjou, which were destroyed by 
 Louis VIII. whose son rebuilt them in their present form, in 
 the year 1232. An university was founded here in 1246, 
 and an academy of the belles lettres in 1685. The Angcvins 
 
30 
 
 are remarked for their love of literature, — an honourable distino 
 tion ! The city contained 16 parish churches,, and several 
 religious houses ; the cathedral is a beautiful pile of building-, 
 celebrated for its monument of Margaret of Anjou, v/ife of 
 Henry VI. of England. The castle is built on a rock, and 
 was originally designed as a defence against the English, after 
 Anjou was surrendered to France ; it overhangs the river, and, 
 though now in decay, has still a very striking appearance ; it 
 was flanked with eighteen large round towers, and a very strong 
 half-moon ; the walls are lofty and the fosses deep, and cut out 
 of the solid rock. The streets are Barrow, and the houses mean, 
 low and huddled together; they are all covered with slate fur- 
 nished by the quarries in the neighbourhood, from which An- 
 gers has been called Ville Noire. The population is estimated 
 at 50,000. 
 
 Provisions are very cheap in Angers and the neighbourhood ; 
 beef and mutton, 2d. per lb. ; a fowl, 5dL ; turkeys, ISd. to 2s. ; 
 bread, about 1 \d. per lb. ; and all other things, except fuel, in 
 proportion. The climate is very delightful ; the high vault of 
 heaven is clad in ethereal blue, and the sun sets with a glory 
 inconceivable to those who have lived only in more northerly 
 regions ; there are no fogs ; the rains come on at once, and then 
 cease till the following season. 
 
 48. SAUMUR is a small but handsome town, in the same de- 
 partment, formerly the capital of Saumurois, 27 miSes S. E. 
 of Angers. The town is pleasantly situated on the Loire, over 
 which is a long bridge, much celebrated and continued through 
 a number of islands ; the fortifications were formerly of great 
 strength, and, though now neglected, the place still maintains 
 its rank as a military town, and the names of travellers are for- 
 mally required and registered. Saumur was a most important 
 pass over the river, and was frequently and fiercely disputed 
 during the civil wars in the sixteenth century. The castle, built 
 on an eminence, overlooks the town and river, and has a vene- 
 rable and magnificent appearance; the kings of Sicily and 
 dukes of Anjou often resided in the castle of Saumur, as it con- 
 stituted a part of their Angevin dominions. Provisions here 
 also are very cheap ; beef, not very fat, \\d. English per lb. ; 
 mutton and veal, about 2d. two fowls, 8d. ; two ducks, 10c?. ; 
 geese and turkeys, from Is. Qd. to 2s. Qd. ; fuel, as much as 
 would serve three fires for the year, about 5/. ; house-rent in 
 proportion ; butter, Sd. per lb. ; cheese, 4d. ; and milk, a half- 
 penny per quart. The country round Saumur is as lively and 
 
31 
 
 beautiful as the town itself; it chiefly consists of corn fields, 
 studded with groves or tufts of trees, and divided by green 
 fences interspersed with pear and apple trees. 
 
 The country between Sauinur and Tours is as delightful as 
 the imagination can conceive, and exceeds all powers of descrip- 
 tion ; there are in rapid succession meadows and lawns ever 
 green, hills covered with vines, handsome chateaux, groves and 
 tufts of trees, thick and almost impenetrable forests, from the 
 centre of which are visible steeples, villas, windmills, abbeys, 
 and ancient castles overhanging the majestic and romantic Loire, 
 where the deep tranquillity is only interrupted by the nightin- 
 gale's scng, the jocund notes of the swain returning from labour, 
 the milkmaid's carol, or the nightly dance beneath the beech-; 
 tree's shade. This is truly a lovely country, with varied, pic- 
 turesque and beautiful scenery, abounding in vines, corn, mea- 
 dow, wood and water. Well might Mary Queen of Scotland 
 exclaim, when leaving the vines and flowers of France for her 
 Scotch kingdom, " Dear, delightful land, must I indeed leave 
 thee ! Gay, lovely France, shall I never see thee more 1 " 
 
 49 A f ew miles E. of Saumur was the far-famed abbey of 
 FONTEVRAULD, founded in 1096 by Robert d' Arbrissel, 
 where Henry the Second and Richard the First of England were 
 interred ; Eleanor of Acquitaine, wife of Henry, Jane Queen of 
 Sicily, his daughter, and Elizabeth of Angouieme, widow of 
 John King of England, lie buried in the same tomb. Fontev- 
 rauld, besides the respect derived from its antiquity, was con- 
 sidered as one of the most honourable and important benefices 
 in France ; many princesses of the blood have been its abbesses, 
 with immense revenues, and extensive spiritual and temporal 
 authority. It was situated in a valley, having rocky hills be- 
 hind, and thick woods almost concealing it from the view, 
 giving it an air of melancholy and silence peculiarly character- 
 istic of the gloomy devotion of monastic life. 
 
 50. We pass through Thouars and Partenat unnoticed, and 
 come to NIORT, a city and capital of the department of 
 the Two Sevres, 44 miles S.W. of Poictiers, and 34 N.E. of 
 Rochelle. It is situated on the river Sevre Niortoise, and had 
 formerly a very strong castle. There are considerable coarse 
 woollen manufactures here. 
 
 51 . POICTIERS or POITIERS, a city and capital of the de- 
 partment of Vienne, is large, but thinly inhabited. It is 
 
32 
 
 117 miles N. N. E. of Bourdeaux, J70S.S.W. of Paris, and 
 stands upon the river Clain. The principal manufactures are 
 stockings, woollen caps, gloves and combs. Some Roman 
 antiquities are to be found here, particularly an amphitheatre, 
 and a triumphal arch. Formerly Poitiers was the capital of 
 the province, a bishop's see, the residence of the governor of 
 Poitou, and had a celebrated university for the civil law. In 
 1356 a battle was fought near this town, between the English, 
 under Edward the Black Prince, and the French, in which 
 the latter were defeated, and the king taken prisoner. What 
 renders tfiis battle more famous and extraordinary is, that the 
 English army consisted only of 12,000 men, and the French of 
 60,000. 
 
 Tiiriiing- once more to the S. and passing by many places 
 of inferior note we arrive at ANGOULEME, a city and 
 capital of the department of Charente, 65 miles S. E. of Rochelle, 
 and 250 S.W. of Paris. Before the revolution it was the capital 
 of Angoumois, and the see of a bishop. It is situated on a rock 
 near the river Charente, contains twelve parishes, and about 
 8000 inhabitants. The cathedral was destroyed in the civil 
 wars, about the year 1562, and was rebuilt in 1628. 
 
 53. After another long stretch, in a south-westerly direction, we 
 reach one of the most important places in France — BOUR- 
 DEAUX, a city, sea-port and capital of the department of the 
 Gironde, 325 miles S. S.W. of Paris. Before the revolution it 
 was the capital of the Bourdelois, the see of an archbishop, the 
 seat of a lieutenant-general and a parliament city. It is in the 
 form of a crescent, delightfully situated on the western coast of 
 the Garonne, and contains about 130,000 inhabitants. Bour- 
 deaux is one of the first cities in France for magnitude, riches 
 and beauty. It has an university, founded in 1441 ; an academy 
 of sciences and belles-lettres, established in 1712; a public li- 
 brary ; a large hospital, in which are several manufactures, &c. 
 The harbour is large, and the quay grand and extensive. 
 Four or five hundred merchant ships are often found there at 
 one time, importing woollen stuffs, tin, copper, coals, herrings, 
 leather, salted beef, tallow, drugs, deals, masts for ships, hemp, 
 pitch and tar, &c. and exporting wine and brandy, (of which 
 two articles alone they annually export near 100,000 tuns) 
 vinegar, fruit, resin, paper, honey, cork, &c. They have 
 also a great West India trade ; the whale and cod fishery form 
 likewise a considerable branch of the commerce of this city. 
 
A Song* Giii 
 
 A Licjiiere Merchant 
 
8$ 
 
 The Chateau Trompette is situated at the entrance of the 
 quay ; it is flanked with six large bastions ; the river runs round 
 its walls, which are defended by large and deep ditches. There 
 is another fort, situated on the banks of the river, immediately 
 opposite the Chateau Trompette. Bourdeaux has twelve gates, 
 and, near the ramparts of the city, a large square tower, flanked 
 with four round towers, called the Chateau de Haa. There is a 
 delightful promenade on the platform of St. Eulalia, on the 
 ramparts, covered with many long alleys of trees, which affords 
 an extensive view of the environs and the river, and is the re- 
 sort of the merchants. The public buildings are very grand ; 
 the greater part of the large streets end upon the quay, which 
 is four miles long ; the streets in general are narrow, but the 
 modern-built unite elegance with regularity. 
 
 There are several vestiges of Roman grandeur here; as the 
 tower gate, said to have been erected in the time of Augustus ; 
 an amphitheatre and palace of Gallienus ; a temple, a fountain, 
 &c. From hence come the wines called Claret and Bourdeaux. 
 This was the first city in France that declared for the Bourbons, 
 hoisted the white standard with the fleurs-de-lys, and opened 
 its gates to a detachment sent from the army under the gallant 
 Lord Wellington ; for which the mayor, M. Lynch, has since 
 been outlawed and proscribed by Buonaparte. 
 
 The GARONNE, upon which Bourdeaux is situated, is a fine 
 river, it rises in the Pyrenees, and, taking a N.W. direction, 
 waters Toulouse, Agen and Bourdeaux, 12 miles below which 
 it is joined by the Dordogne, and from thence to its entrance 
 into the Bay of Biscay is called the Gironde. By its junction 
 with the canal of Langnedoc, a little below Toulouse, it com- 
 municates with the Mediterranean as well as the Atlantic. A t 
 Bourdeaux it is wider than the Thames at London-bridge. 
 
 54. BAZAS is a city in the department of the Gironde, 28 
 miles S. S. E. of Bourdeaux ; formerly the capital of 
 
 Bazadois, and a bishop's see. The diocese is said to have been 
 one of the most ancient in France, and of great extent, 
 comprehending 250 parishes. It is a handsome town and 
 contains about 2000 inhabitants. 
 
 55. BAYONNE, a city and sea-port, in the department of the 
 Lower Pyrenees, 98 miles S. W. of Bourdeaux, and 425 
 
 S. by W. of Paris. It is situated at the conflux of the rivers 
 A dour and Nive, about 2 mites and a half from the sea, with a 
 good harbour, but difficult to enter. The town is large and 
 
 b 3 
 
34 
 
 of considerable importance, the seat of a tribunal in the dis- 
 trict of Ustaritz. It is strongly fortified by the celebrated Vau- 
 ban, the citadel is the strongest in France. Masts are brought 
 here from the Pyrenees, by means of the Nive, the Gave of 
 Oleron, and the Adour, and shipped off to Brest and other 
 places. A company for the northern whale fishery was estab- 
 lished in 1605 ; in 1784 it was declared a free port. Before 
 the revolution it was the see of a bishop, The cathedral is 
 remarkable for its high nave and the delicacy of the pillars 
 which support it. Bayonne and the Adour, are rendered fa- 
 mous in our times, for being the scene of some of the operations 
 of that great military genius the Duke of Wellington, in his 
 invasion of France. 
 
 £)g PAU, a city, and capital of the department of the Lower Py- 
 renees, is 55 miles E. of Bayonne, and 97 S. of Bourdeaux, 
 situated on a river called the Gave of Pau. it was formerly the 
 capital of Bearn, a parliament city, the seat of a governor, a 
 seneschal, &c. and contained an university, an academy of sci- 
 ences, two hospitals, a college, and several convents. It w r as 
 the ancient residence of the kings of Navarre, and the birth- 
 place of Henry IV. The population is estimated at about 
 12,000, chiefly employed in the manufacture of cloth, linen, &c 
 The hams cured here are highly esteemed. The environs are 
 planted with vineyards, which produce the famous Vin de 
 Joren^on." The castle stands on a most romantic and singular 
 spot, at the west end of the town, upon a rock, which termi- 
 nates perpendicularly. It commands very fine and extensive 
 views ; the river Gave immediately below, the hills on one side 
 covered with vines about two miles distant, and, beyoud all, the 
 Pyrenees stretching round the horizon from east to west and 
 bounding the prospect. The castle, though now in a state of 
 decay, is still habitable; and the apartments are hung with 
 tapestry said to be the work of Jane Queen of Navarre, the 
 mother of Henry IV. ; the room is still shown in which he was 
 born, and there are some curious particulars told relating to that 
 event. Jane, in compliance with the desire of her father, Henry 
 d'Albret, King of Navarre, came from Compeigne to Pau to 
 lie in; and, in obedience to his command, during the pains of 
 her labour, had courage enough to sing a song or hymn in the. 
 Bearnois language. The moment he was born the king took 
 the infant into his own apartment, and began by making him 
 swallow some drops of wine, and rubbing his lrps with a root of 
 garlic. The manner of his bringing up was similar, and in a 
 
35 
 
 prince almost unexampled ; he was sent to the castle of Coarace 
 in Beam, where he used to run about with the neighbouring 
 peasants, barefooted and bareheaded, even in the rigours of 
 winter. 
 
 57 F r °m Pau let us direct, our course northward till we reach 
 * MONT DE MARS AN, a city, and capital of the depart- 
 ment of the Landes, 46 miles N. E. of Bayonne, It was founded 
 in the year 1120, and was the capital of the country of Marsan ; 
 it contains about 4000 inhabitants, and is entitled to notice only 
 from being the capital of the department. 
 
 q§ 4 The next place of importance we come to, in *an easterly 
 direction, is xAUCH, a city and capital of the department 
 of Cers, 37 miles W. of Toulouse, and 90 S.E. of Bourdeaux, 
 situated on a hill near the river Gers. Before the revolution the 
 capital of Armagnac, and see of an archbishop, who had the 
 title of Primate cf Aquitaine, with a revenue of 125,000 livres. 
 The cathedral was esteemed one of the most beautiful in France. 
 
 <59. ^ e turn a » a * n to * ne §• to notice TARBE, a city and 
 capital of the department of the Upper Pyrenees, seated on 
 the river Adour, 25 miles E. of Pau, and 42 S.S.W. of Audi. 
 Formerly it was a bishop's see, and the residence of a governor. 
 It is built on the ruins of the ancient Bigorre, consists princi- 
 pally of one street along the Adour, and is defended by a castle. 
 
 (yQ Passing by many places of inferior note, from Tar-be we 
 may proceed E. to FOIX, a city and capital of the depart- 
 ment of the Arriege, 42 miles S. of Toulouse. This place is 
 supposed to have been founded by the Phocians, whence the 
 name is corrupted into Foix ; it contains about 3,500 inhabi- 
 tants, and has a manufacture of ccarse woollen cloth, and some 
 copper works. 
 
 (Jl # PRADES is a town in the department of the Eastern 
 Pyrenees, on the river Tet, 21 miles W. S. W. of Per pig- 
 nan, containing about 1100 inhabitants. Modern travellers, 
 speak highly of the cultivation of the mountains in this district, 
 and of the very sublime scenery in the immediate neighbour- 
 hood. Canigou, the chief of the Eastern Pyrenees, may be 
 ascended from hence ; no description can convey to the mind 
 the grandeur, and vastness of this mountain ; whose summit, 
 on which is fixed a small iron cross, is 9000 feet above the 
 
36 
 
 level of the Mediterranean. There are many wild goats among 
 the rocks, and some bears ; and the wolves frequently prowl 
 about the streets of Prades, in the winter nights/ 
 
 (52. ft i s a delightfully romantic ride from Prades to PER- 
 PiGNAN, a city and capital of the department of the 
 Eastern Pyrenees, 34 miles S. of Narbonne, situated on the 
 Tet, about three miles from the sea. Perpignan was for- 
 merly considered as one of the keys of the kingdom. Before 
 the revolution it was the capital of Roussillon, and see of a 
 bishop. The w r alls are of brick and stone, very high and thick, 
 with several bastions ; the citadel is upon an eminence and 
 commands the town. In 1793 there were two battles, between 
 theFrenchand Spaniards near this city ; in the former of which 
 the Spaniards, in the latter the French were defeated. The 
 beneficial effects of irrigation are very visible in this district. 
 The copious and pure streams issuing from the Pyrenees, are 
 most economically and skilfully directed to this purpose; they are 
 collected by artificial channels, and only suffered to descend as 
 they perform the office of irrigation ; and they render the little 
 portions of arable land on the sides of the mountain, surprisingly 
 
 1 uitM. Where a portion of land cannot be irrigated, it is plan- 
 ted with vines ; as watering these would injure the quality of the 
 w\m, without increasing the quantity sufficiently to compensate. 
 On the contrary olives are irrigated with the greatest advantage. 
 
 63. ® ur cowse ft* 0111 Perpignan lies along the shores of the 
 Mediterranean to NARBONNE, a city, in the department 
 frf the Aude, situated near the sea, on the canal which communi- 
 ties with the Aude, 50 miles S.S.W. of Montpeliier, and 80 
 H.M. of Toulouse. It was formerly the see of an archbishop, the 
 t at of an admiralty, and residence of a governor : it contained 
 
 2 collegiate churches, besides the cathedral, which is noted for 
 its noble choir, a college, 2 seminaries, 13 convents and 
 several hospitals. Here the Emperor Marcus Aurelius was 
 born. It was the capital of Gallia Narbonensis, and strongly 
 fortified; but at present a wall, flanked with bastions, is its 
 cnly defence. Narbonne contains a great many antiquities : the 
 chief are the aqueducts, the place called the Capitole, many 
 statues, inscriptions, &c. It is not populous, in proportion to 
 its extent, neither is it a rich or commercial town. The honey 
 of this neighbourhood is in great esteem. The inhabitants are 
 eatrtnated at 10,000. The views between this place and Per- 
 pignan, the Cevexmes on the right, the Mediterranean on the 
 
37 
 
 left, and the Pyrenees towering: majestically in front, are ex- 
 tremely interesting and delightful. 
 
 (J4 # We now turn to CARCASSONE, a city and capital of the 
 " department of the Aude, 35 miles W. of Narbonne. It 
 was formerly the capital of a county, the seat of a governor, and 
 a bishop's see. It is situated on the Aude, and is divided into 
 Old and New Town, and defended by a castle, walls and ditches. 
 The New Town is regularly built in the form of a long square. 
 There is a considerable manufacture of line cloth here, in many 
 respects excelling even that at Abbeville. The population is 
 estimated at 10,000. 
 
 This place bore a considerable share in the celebrated crusade 
 undertaken against the Alhigenses, which forms one of the most 
 astonishing instances of superstition and atrocious barbarity to 
 be found in the annals of the world. The city being invested 
 by Simon de Montfort, and the inhabitants, terrified at the fate 
 of several other places where the most dreadful massacres had 
 been committed, demanded leave to capitulate; but this act of 
 mercy was only extended to them under a condition equally 
 cruel, unparalleled in history, and incredible if we were not 
 compelled to believe it by the unanimous testimony of all the 
 contemporary writers: — all the people found in it were obliged, 
 without distinction of rank or sex, to evacuate it in a state of 
 nudity. 
 
 On our road to Toulouse we may notice CASTELNAU- 
 DRY, a town, in the department of Aude, 54 miles W. 
 of Narbonne, situated on an eminence, near the grand reservoir 
 which supplies the canal of Languedoc. Before the revolution 
 it was the capital of Lauragais ; it contains about 5000 inha- 
 bitants. 
 
 QQ t TOULOUSE is a city and capital of the department of the 
 Upper Garonne, 125 miles S. E. of Bourdeaux, and 350 
 S. by W. of Paris. It was once the capital of Languedoc, see of 
 an archbishop, and second parliament of France; it is reckoned 
 tor size next to Paris; the streets are generally broad, and the 
 houses built of brick. It is not, however, very populous ; and, 
 though so finely situated, its trade is very inconsiderable, the 
 principal article being Spanish wool. Some carpets are made 
 here, though of little value, together with some slight silk and 
 woollen stuffs. The university was founded in the year 1228. 
 The town-house is a spacious building, and called the eapitolium, 
 
38 
 
 whence the aldermen are termed capitouls ; and amongst other 
 curiosities preserved here are 15 large parchment folios, 
 delicately written and illuminated, being annals of the city, 
 commencing from the year 1288, and annually continued by the 
 eldest capitoul. These were drawn up originally in Latin, but 
 under Francis I. wer^ altered to French. The three first volumes 
 are principally filled with the portraits and names of the capi- 
 touls, and the following contain all the memorable events and 
 transactions throughout the whole kingdom. Here is also an 
 academy of the sciences and liberal arts. At a short distance 
 below the city, the celebrated canal of Languedoc joins the 
 Garonne, which here becomes navigable. Toulouse was one of 
 the most flourishing cities of the old Gauls, and contains many 
 monuments of antiquity. It is large, as before observed, and 
 well built, but horribly filthy, contains 67,000 inhabitants, and 
 has much the appearance of prosperity. How the people of 
 this place, and of some others in the South of France, can 
 tolerate the detestable stench of their own nuisances, is mar- 
 vellous. 
 
 QJ.Our route next leads us to AGEN, a city, and capital of 
 the department of the Lot and Garonne, 80 miles S. E. of 
 Bourdeanx. It is situated on the Garonne, in a fertile country, 
 and was formerly a bishop's see, and capital of a country called 
 Agenois. The celebrated Joseph Scaliger was born here. 
 
 After crossing the Garonne at Layrac, which is here very 
 rapid, running between high banks, and rendering the 
 passage somewhat dangerous, if we proceed about 20 miles to 
 the S. of Agen, we shall meet with the strongly fortified city of 
 LECTOURE, which was lately an episcopal see, and is situated 
 on a mountain of very difficult ascent, at the foot of which flows 
 the Gers. It occupies a level space of more than half a mile in 
 circumference on the summit of the mountain, from which there 
 is a view of the Pyrenees, 90 miles distant, their heads lost in 
 clouds and covered with eternal snow. Lectoure was a Roman 
 colony, and many antiquities have been discovered here ; a beau- 
 tiful fountain, w 7 hich springs from the side of the hill near the 
 episcopal palace, is declared to have been consecrated to Diana, 
 who had a temple near the spot. The history of John the fifth 
 count of Armagnac, who resided here, is very curious, but too 
 long to be inserted. 
 
 The remains of the castle are still visible, in which the noble 
 and unfortunate Marechal de Montmorenci was confined after 
 
39 
 
 the battle of Castelnaudry in 1632. So amiable was his cha- 
 racter, so general was the attachment borne to hi in, and so de- 
 tested was his enemy the Cardinal de Richlieu, that the ladies 
 of the place attempted by a stratagem to procure him his liberty. 
 They sent him, as a present, a large pie, in which was con- 
 cealed a silken ladder of ropes. He lost no time in endeavour- 
 ing to avaii himself of this instrument for his escape, and, 
 having fixed it the same evening to the window of his apart- 
 ment, ordered his valet to descend first, intending to follow; 
 but the servant, having unfortunately missed his hold, fell, and 
 broke his thigh. The centinels, alarmed at his cries, ran to 
 the spot, and intercepted the Marechal, who was soon after con- 
 ducted to Toulouse and there put to death. 
 
 QQWe again re-cross the Garonne, and proceed through Moissac 
 to CAHORS, a city, and capital of the department of the 
 Lot, 65 miles N. of Toulouse, and about 110 E. of Bourdeaux; 
 it was once the capital of Quercy, and a bishop's see. It is si- 
 tuated on the river Lot, which nearly surrounds it, in a country 
 celebrated for its wine, which is the principal article of com- 
 merce. Henry IV. took this town by assault in the year 1580, 
 when mortars were first made use of. The university of Cahors 
 was founded in 1832 by Pope John XXL, called Jacques d'Ossa, 
 who was the son of a shoemaker of this city. The sublimity 
 of his genius wafted him to this first dignity of the church. 
 After a vacancy of two years in the papal see, the cardinals, 
 being always divided in their suffrages, agreed that Cardinal 
 d'Ossa should choose the most worthy ; he immediately elected 
 himself to the Pontificate, saying, " Ego sum Papa? 1 I am Pope; 
 and this election met with general approbation. 
 
 70. Returning to the southern coast of France, we must notice 
 the ancient city of ALBY, which is 20 miles N. of Castres, 
 seated on the river Tarn, in the department of the Tarn, and was 
 formerly the capital of Albigeois, and see of an archbishop. The 
 cathedral is a handsome Gothic building, and the tower or steeple 
 is one of the heights of Upper Languedoc ; the streets are very 
 narrow and disagreeable. There are very beautiful walks in the 
 environs of the town, and the country round is surprisingly fer- 
 tile, producing grain, wines, flax, hemp, saffron, aniseed and 
 coriander; the fine pastures afford wool of a good quality, 
 which is manufactured into stockings, ratteens and coarse 
 woollen goods ; the wax candles made here are much esteemed. 
 But Alby is chiefly celebrated in history on account of the 
 
40 
 
 Albigenses, or Atbigcois, so named from making (heir first 
 appearance in this city; who, as early as the 11th century, dis- 
 puted the authority of the pope, and claimed the right of 
 thinking for themselves, for which they w T ere excommunicated, 
 and several very cruel persecutions were raised against them. 
 The Albigenses and Walclenses are considered as the fore- 
 runners and fathers of Protestantism and the reformation. Of 
 such fearful importance did the Albigenses appear to the church, 
 that Pope Innocent III. stopped the crusades in order to exter- 
 minate these worse than infidels. By the promise of plenary 
 indulgences for forty days' warfare against them, he raised an 
 army of 100,000 pilgrims, headed first by the Pope's legate 
 and afterwards by Simon de Montfort. Rivers of blood were 
 shed by the savage persecutors, but they were not exterminated. 
 The crusaders, after immense losses, grew weary of the ad- 
 venture, and their leader Simon was killed by a stone hurled by 
 a woman. The war was abandoned and the inquisition was set 
 Bp in its stead by the Spaniard Dominick. 
 
 71. Directly S. of Alby is CASTRES, a city and capital of 
 the department of the Tarn, 34 miles E. of Toulouse. It 
 is situated on the Agout, in a very agreeable plain, surrounded 
 on all sides by mountains abounding in corn, wine and w r ood, 
 and was formerly the see of a bishop. In the reign of 
 Louis XIII. the inhabitants were chiefly Protestants, and formed 
 a kind of republic ; but since that time the walls have been 
 destroyed, and the town laid open. It is a place of great 
 trade, and contains about 100,000 inhabitants. Rapin 
 de Thoyras, the celebrated historian of England, and M. 
 Dacier were born here. Turquoise stones have been found 
 in the neighbourhood. There was formerly in Castres one 
 of the most magnificent episcopal palaces in France, which 
 was 30 years building from the designs of Mansard; the 
 gardens of which were amazingly spacious, running along 
 by the side of the river, and supported by immense arches, 
 on account of the inequalities of the ground. Castres pos- 
 sesses some very agreeable and extensive promenades ; and at 
 the village of Saix, in the neighbourhood, there was an elegant 
 Chartreuse. 
 
 ^2. The next place of importance that occurs is BEZIERS, 
 a city, in the department of Herault, situated on the left 
 bank of the Orbe, 14 miles N.E. of Narbonne, and 34 S W, of 
 Montpellier. Before the revolution it was the seat of a governor, 
 
A Paris Milk Girl 
 
 A Porter 
 
\ 41 
 
 and the see of a bishop. It occupies all the sides of a very steep 
 and lofty hill, on the highest point of which is built the cathedral, 
 which was small, but beautiful ; there was an organ here, the 
 pipes of which were distributed three and three among the 
 pillais of the church, which had da extraordinary effect, it 
 had besides one collegiate church, several religious houses, two 
 hospitals, a college, and an academy of sciences for 37 mem- 
 bers. It is not populous in proportion to its extent, the inhabi- 
 tants are estimated at about 18,000. Eight sluices of the 
 grand canal are within sight of the town, and it is about 6 miles 
 from the sea. In the expedition against the Albigenses this 
 place was besieged, taken by storm., and 60,000 of the wretch- 
 ed inhabitants were massacred in cold blood ; this was called 
 a religious war ! 
 
 73. Before we proceed to Montpcllier, we may notice CETTE, 
 14 miles S. W, of it, a sea-port, in the same department, 
 in the Mediterranean. The place is small, and is introiK- ed 
 only in connexion with the Canal of Languedoc, which be- 
 gins here ; this canal, the most important in France, intended 
 to effect an inland communication between the Atlantic and Me- 
 diterranean, was undertaken in the reign of Louis XIV., begun 
 in 1666 and finished in 1682 It is 180 miles long, carried 
 over 37 aqueducts, and crossed by eight bridges : from Cettc 
 it crosses the lake of Thau, and below Toulouse is conveyed by 
 three sluices into the Garonne. The reservoirs of water col- 
 lected from the hills, for the supply of this navigation, are im- 
 mense; from one of these the water is conveyed by three large 
 brass cocks, with mouths as large as a man's body ; yet though 
 these remain open for months successively, there is no visible 
 diminution of water in the great reservoir. Near Beziers is the 
 mountain of Malpas, which was cut through to admit its pas- 
 sage; this is considered a most extraordinary work, producing 
 a ve^-y striking and sublime effect. There is a descent by a 
 large flight of steps into the excavation, so that a person may 
 walk through the mountain along the side of the canal. Tire 
 length of it is 720 feet, and the perpendicular height, from the 
 water to the surface of the incumbent mountain, is 202 feet. 
 A great part of the arch has been vaulted, and lined with free- 
 stone, to prevent its falling in. The canal is upwards of 20 feet 
 broad ; and, though the distance hollowed through the ground 
 is so considerable, yet the light is every where perfectly ad- 
 mitted. This was the greatest obstacle to completing the junc- 
 tion of the two seas, and its execution has immortalized tK 
 
42 
 
 famous Riquet, whom Louis XIV. employed in the enterprise, 
 and made Count de Caraman. 
 
 At Agile, another small town, nearer to Beziers, there is a 
 curious round sluice, lock, or chamber, with three openings, 
 three different depths of the water or levels meeting- here; and 
 the gates are so contrived that vessels may pass into any one of 
 them by opening" the sluice belonging' to it. There are 15 locks 
 upon it in the fall towards the ocean, and 45 on the side of the 
 Mediterranean. Regular locks for carrying boats over emi- 
 nences were first erected in France. 
 
 74 MONTPELLIER, a city and capital of the department 
 ' of Herauit, is 27 miles S.W. of Nismes, 120 E. of Toulouse 
 and 360 S. of Paris. This city was built on a hill near the 
 river Lez, after Charlemagne had demolished Maguelone, which 
 served as an asylum for the Saracens in their depredations ; 
 and the bishop's see, which had been removed from Maguelone 
 to Substantion, was established at Montpellier. In 1180 an 
 university was founded here, for the study of physic, by some 
 physicians who were driven out of Spain ; and, in 1700, an aca- 
 demy of sciences. This university and the schools of medicine 
 have rendered Montpellier celebrated throughout Europe. They 
 still preserve here the robe and bonnet of the celebrated Rabelais, 
 with which they seven times clothe the new doctors, in remem- 
 brance of his having procured the re-establishment of the pri- 
 vileges of the university. To accomplish this he presented 
 himself one day at the Chancellor du Prat's in the habit of a 
 doctor; at first he spoke in Latin to a Swiss, who, understand- 
 ing nothing about it, made an officer come to him, to whom 
 Rabelais spoke in Greek ; they then brought to him many 
 learned men, to whom he spoke in Hebrew when they spoke to 
 him in Greek, in Syriac to Hebrew, in Arabic to Syriac; so that 
 he exhausted all the science of the chancellor's hotel : this ma- 
 gistrate, being advised of it, wished himself to speak to him. 
 Rabelais then harangued him with so much eloquence on the 
 privileges of the university, that he easily obtained his object. 
 
 Montpellier contains a great number of good houses, but the 
 streets are narrow and crooked. It is defended by a citadel, 
 which commands the town and neighbourhood. The principal 
 manufacture is verdigris, in which it carries on a considerable 
 trade, as also in wool, brought from the Mediterranean, wine, 
 aqua vitse, Hungary water, cinnamon water, capillaire, essence 
 of bergamot, lemons, kc. and likewise great quantities of 
 woollen carpets, fustians, and silk stockings. These commo- 
 
43 
 
 dities are sent by the canal to Cette, the sea-port of Montpel- 
 lier. The population is estimated at 78,000; it stands five 
 miles from the Mediterranean. The air and climate are thought 
 so fine, that sick people are often sent there from other countries 
 for the recovery of their health. The road from Montpellier to 
 Nismes is very rich and beautiful. The olive trees are larger 
 near Montpellier, denoting* a more fertile soil ; some of their 
 trunks are from IS inches to two feet in diameter ; the olive is 
 a miserable looking tree, most like a pollard willow ; and the 
 severe service of being thrice stripped of its leaves during sum- 
 mer gives a beggarly appearance to the mulberry tree : the vine- 
 yards are like plantations of currant trees. Every thing in this 
 district bears the marks of prosperity ; fertile fields, well-built 
 villages, and a thick and happy population. 
 
 ^Q # The country is like a garden, level, and every where well 
 cultivated, from Montpellier to NISMES, a city, and capital 
 of the department of Gard, 27 miles N.E. of Montpellier, and 
 345 S. S. E. of Paris. It is large, and pleasantly situated on the 
 side of a hill, covered with vineyards and orchards of fruit, at 
 some distance from a small river called the Vistre. Before the 
 revolution it was the seat of a particular government, a court of 
 conventions, a consular jurisdiction, a bishopric, &c. It con- 
 tained a semi nary > a college, an academy of ancient history and 
 belles lettres, several hospitals, a citadel, and about 40,000 in- 
 habitants, a third of them supposed to be Protestants. The city 
 is ancient, and was very large and magnificent before it was' 
 taken and sacked by the Goths. 
 
 Nismes possesses more antiquities than any other city in 
 France. Marius, when conquered by Sylla, retired into this 
 place, intending to make it a second Rome ; he surrounded it 
 with walls, built magnificent palaces, amphitheatres and other 
 splendid edifices, the remains of which still excite the admira- 
 tion of travellers; particularly an amphitheatre, a temple of 
 Diana, an aqueduct, a grand tower supposed to have been a 
 mausoleum, a public fountain, and the niaison quarree. The 
 last is a temple of the Corinthian order, in exquisite taste, raised 
 by the inhabitants of Nismes, in the year of Rome 754, to 
 the memory of Caius and Lucius, sons of Agrippa; or, accord- 
 ing to some, this is the Basilica, which the Emperor Adrian 
 built in honour of his wife Plotina. It is allowed by all to be 
 the most elegant and the most perfect piece of architecture in 
 the world. This superb temple is now converted into a chapel, 
 dedicated to the Virgin, and ornamented with gilding and other 
 holy finery suitable to such an alteration. 
 
44 
 
 Many workmen are now (1814) employed in restoring the 
 nmpkitheatre to its original state. At present, thousand s of 
 people assemble in it every Sunday to see bull- fights, as tfaey 
 are improperly termed. A bull is turned into the arena among 
 a great number of young men, who give proof of their activity 
 and courage by teazing the animal into a rage, ami then making 
 their escape between palisades, which are fixed round the arena, 
 at 15 inches apart, for that purpose ; but fatal accidents are not 
 very uiifrequent, Many bulls are kept expressly for this bar- 
 barous sport. The amphitheatre is calculated to hold 20,000 
 spectators; it is an ellipsis, whose largest diameter is about 
 400 feet, and its shortest 300 ; the exterior wall is (50 feet high. 
 Charles Martel, from hatred to the Roman name, had the sa- 
 vage fury to fill the corridores of this building with wood, to 
 which he set fire, with an intent to injure, though it surpassed 
 his power to demolish, so vast an edifice. Notwithstanding the 
 attempts of the barbarous nations, notwithstanding the lapse of 
 so many ages, and the effects of time, its appearance at pre- 
 sent, half perfect, half in ruins, is the most august and majestic 
 which can be presented to the mind or senses. 
 
 At a quarter of a mile from the city are the ruins of a square 
 building called the Temple of Diana, hut which antiquaries 
 generally suppose to have been sacred to th& M T>ii Infernales," 
 as no light was admitted into it; a circum - :e peculiar to the 
 temples of the infernal gods. Within the temple are many 
 mutilated statues, marbles, capitals, and inscriptions, which 
 have been found from time to time. Close to it rises a fountain 
 which may vie with that of Vaucluse in beauty though not in 
 fame ; it furnishes a great quantity and a constant supply of 
 water ; the channel, being obstructed with sand and gravel, was 
 cleared a few years ago, and in the course of the work a great 
 number of Roman coins, rings and other antiquities were dis- 
 covered, several of which were equally rare and well preserved. 
 
 We cannot particularize any more of the stupendous remains 
 of Roman magnificence in this place for want of room ; suffice 
 it to say, that Nismes is the only city in the world that may 
 rival Rome in antiquities, and that it contains a rich treat for 
 those who are fond of contemplating the " works of other days." 
 
 76 Nine miles to the N.E. of Nismes is the lofty Roman aque- 
 ' duct called the PONT D(J G A RD, which is the most beau- 
 tiful and complete antiquity in France. It is built over the Gard, 
 near a village named Remoulins, to convey the spring of Eure, 
 near Usez, into Nismes. There are two mountains, one on each 
 
45 
 
 side of the river, to the top of which the aqueduct communicates. 
 The whole work is of the Tuscan order, formed of three rows of 
 arches, one built over the other, of free-stone of nearly the sama 
 consistence as that of the amphitheatre. For lightness and soli- 
 dity it may serve as a model to the best architects. The first 
 row is composed of six large arches, 58 feet in the span, which 
 from the first bridge over the Card ; upon this bridge a space is left 
 sufficient for passengers both on horseback and on foot. The 
 second row has eleven arches of the same height and breadth as 
 those of the first, but not so thick, and without a thoroughfare. 
 The third row has thirty-six arches, not so high or broad by one 
 third, and bears the canal, six feet high and four broad, covered 
 with large flat stones, which jut over. The first row of arches 
 is 150 paces long, the second 265, and the third 300. It ap- 
 pears that the stones of this famous aqueduct are placed without 
 mortar or cement, being so well joined that it is difficult to dis- 
 tinguish them ; especially those of the turning of the arches, 
 which are composed in the first row of four stones, in the second 
 of three, and in the third of only one. The grandeur and mag- 
 nificence which appear in this work are a proof that the Romans 
 were capable of the most difficult enterprises. 
 
 77. From the Pont du Gard we may next go to BEAUCAIRE, 
 a considerable town, noted for its annual fair, which lasts 
 
 six days, for its castle, and for a subterraneous vault under the 
 Rhone; and from thence, over abridge of boats, to TAK AS- 
 CON, a town in the department of the Mouths of the Rhone, 
 seated on that river, 10 miles N. of Aries. This is a large 
 place, well fortified in the ancient manner, with a large castle 
 built by Rent king of Sicily; it has a brisk trade in oil, brandy, 
 starch, and stuffs of coarse silk and wool and silk, and a popu- 
 lation of about 7000. The passage by the bridge of boats is 
 sometimes dangerous in consequence of violent gusts of wind. 
 The view of the Rhone here is very picturesque ; on one side 
 stands Beaucaire, with its ruined castle overhanging a rock ; on 
 this side is situated Tarascoo, with a correspondent but far 
 more considerable castle, washed by the waves of the rapid Rhone, 
 which is here much broader than the Thames at London. 
 
 78, Before \te proceed to Avignon, we shall describe the 
 large, handsome and ancient city of ARLES, situated on 
 
 the Rhone, in the department of the Months of the Rhone, 
 12 miles S. E. of Nismes, 85 ft W. of Marseilles, and 430 
 S. by E. of Paris. Before the revolution it way an archbishop's 
 
46 
 
 see; and Constantine, the Roman emperor, was so pleased 
 with its situation, that he made it the seat of his empire in 
 Gaul. It is in the form of a harp, and the country round is 
 very pleasant and fertile, producing excellent wine, manna, oil, 
 fruits in abundance, and vermilion; the air also is very tempe- 
 rate and hi thy, yet the city is not populous. It contained 7 
 pr es, 17 convents and monasteries, and a royal academy, 
 which had the same privileges as that of Paris. The cathedral 
 was celebrated for its very thick walls, and beautifully-sculptured 
 marble portal. Aries contains .some splendid remains of anti- 
 quity; the chief of which are the Amphitheatre and Obelisk. 
 
 The amphitheatre was built by the Romans, but the precise 
 period of its erection is unknown ; it was not finished at the 
 upper part; it contained 120 arcades in its circumference, in 
 two rows, one above the other, and in each an equal number ; 
 each of these arcades was 20 feet high and 18 wide ; it 
 is situated on the declivity of a hill, in a very uneven spot, 
 and founded upon a rock ; the foundations of the walls 
 are more than 12 feet thick, and the stones which compose 
 them, are so large and massive that they appear to be sus- 
 tained by their own weight without mortar or cement. It 
 contains a large space, called the Arena, because it was covered 
 with sand, where the gladiators fought with each other, and with 
 wild beasts, which were let out from caves under the amphi- 
 theatre. The upper part was filled with stone seats, like steps, 
 and contained 30,000 persons very commodiously. This beau- 
 tiful edifice is older, larger, and was more magnificent than that 
 at Nismes, but it is not so complete: houses have been built, 
 both inside and out; many of the arcades have been demolished; 
 the arena is filled with earth up to the second row ; and, of all 
 the seats which the spectators occupied, only two remain. Un- 
 der the amphitheatre was found, in 1651, the famous statue of 
 Venus, which was transported to Versailles, and placed in the 
 grand gallery; it is a chef-d'ceuvre, and will always excite the 
 admiration of connoisseurs. 
 
 The obelisk of Aries is one of the most superb monuments of 
 antiquity, and the only one of the sort to be seen in France ; its 
 history is unknown; nut it is supposed to be one of the forty 
 obelisks which were in Egypt, and which w r ere brought to Rome, 
 because it is composed of the same oriental granite as those at 
 Rome. It is nearly covered with hieroglyphics, and remained 
 many ages buried in the earth in a private garden near the walls 
 of Aries ; in 1676 it was raised on a pedestal 20 feet high ; the 
 obelisk is 52 feet high, and 7 feet thick at the base, and all of 
 one piece. 
 
47 
 
 The cemetery in the Champs Eiisees is without the town, on 
 an agreeable declivity, and contained a great many ancient tombs 
 and monuments of stone and marble ; they have greatly decreased ; 
 the stones being taken away from some for building, and many 
 others having been broken open to seek for coin, gold, silver, 
 and bronze, all of which, as well as urns, pateras, lacry matc- 
 hes and lamps, have been found here in abundance. There are 
 many other curious remains of antiquity in Aries and its vicinity, 
 which cannot here be distinctly specified. 
 
 The RHONE is a large river which rises in the Alps, at the 
 eastern extremity of theValais, passes by the city and through 
 the Lake of Geneva, and flows to Lyons, where it joins the 
 JSaone, thence to Vienne, Valence, Avignon, and Aries, below 
 which it empties itself into the Mediterranean by several mouths. 
 The Rhone is perhaps the most rapid river in Europe, and is 
 termed the king of all the French rivers ; from this circum- 
 stance, and the romantic scenery about its source, which is also 
 near that of the Rhine, it has been a favourite of the poets 
 since the time of Petrarch : one of the tuneful race, speaking 
 of Geneva, says : 
 
 " Her lake, from whose broad bosom thrown 
 Rushes the loud impetuous Rhone, 
 And bears his waves with mazy sweep 
 In rapid torrents to the deep." 
 
 79AVTGNGN is a city in the Comtat Venaisin, situated on 
 the eastern side of the Rhone, 20 miles N. \i. of Nismes, 
 and 45 N. W. of Aix. It was the capital of a sovereignty, and 
 belonged to the pope, whose legate resided here, and the see of 
 an archbishop. Avignon was the residence of several popes 
 from 1307 to 1377. It was celebrated for having 7 gates, 7 pa- 
 laces, 7 parishes, 7 colleges, 7 hospitals, 7 convents, 7 nun- 
 neries, and 7 popes, who resided in it successively during 70 
 years. It is surrounded by walls built by different popes ; 
 they still remain in perfect beauty and preservation, and much 
 augment, particularly in a distant view, the beauty of the town. 
 They are composed of free-stone, are flanked at regular distances 
 with square towers, and surmounted with battlements. The 
 public walks are round the foot of this wall, The interior of 
 the city is ill built, the streets are narrow and irregular, and 
 the pavement is most troublesomely rough ; from the nature of 
 the climate, however, the streets are necessarily clean. It con- 
 tains 25,000 inhabitants. The palace, the former residence of 
 the papal legates, was founded by Benedict the Twelfth, but is 
 
48 
 
 betteT known a s the subject of the elegant invective of Petrarch. 
 The arsenal still remains, containing 4000 stand of arms, ranged 
 according to their respective eras ; and the spectacle to antiqua- 
 ries is interesting and instructive. The papal chair, from re- 
 spect to its antiquity, also remains ; but the pannels of the 
 state rooms, which were of polished cedar, have disappeared. 
 The most curious parts of the palace, however, are the subter- 
 raneous passages, the entrance to which is usually through some 
 part of the pillars, and perfectly imperceptible till pointed out. 
 This palace is now used as barracks. The cathedral still retains 
 many of its ancient decorations, and among others the monu- 
 ment of Pope John, who died in 1334. Four hundred and 
 twenty-five years after, in 3759, the body was taken up to be re- 
 moved, when it was found entire, and with some of the vestments 
 retaining their original colour. The first wrapper round the 
 body was a robe of purple silk, which was then enveloped in 
 black velvet embroidered with gold and pearls ; white satin 
 gloves were on the hands, which were crossed over the breast. 
 
 The convent of St. Claire, where Petrarch first met Laura, has 
 survived the fury of the times, and is still entire ; as well as the 
 church of the Cordeliers, where Laura is reputed to have re- 
 posed in peace. Francis I. caused the tomb to be opened ; and 
 a leaden box was found, containing some bones, and a copy of 
 verses, the subject of which was the attachment of the two 
 lovers. Petrarch w 7 as truly an original poet in a dark age; or, 
 according to his own beautiful comparison, a nightingale sing- 
 ing through the thick foliage of a beech-tree. He has no re- 
 semblance to any English, French or Italian poet; and he pos- 
 sesses one quality, in common with the classic poets of Italy, 
 — that he never has been, and perhaps never can be, sufficiently 
 translated. 
 
 Avignon is, however, chiefly celebrated for its hospitals, 
 the liberal foundation and endowment of which have origi- 
 nated, perhaps, in the misfortunes of the city, which has suf- 
 fered as much as Florence itself by the plague. In 1334 it was 
 almost depopulated by this pestilence, which was of the nature 
 of a dry leprosy ; the skin peeled off in white scales, and the 
 body wasted till the disease reached the vitals. In fourteen 
 years after, the city was again attacked, and the beautiful Laura 
 became its victim. It is stated to have swept off upwards of 
 100,000 of the inhabitants. Another period of fourteen years 
 elapsed, and the plague again made its appearance, and nearly 
 20,090 people, including twelve cardinals and a hundred bishops, 
 fell its victims. It was imputed to an extraordinary drought, 
 
49 
 
 attended by an uncommon heat and stillness of the air, which 
 became putrid and pestilential. 
 
 From the high ground in the city nothing can be tiner than 
 the prospect over the plain and surrounding country. The 
 Rhone is there seen rolling its animated stream through mea- 
 dows covered with olive trees, and at the foGt of hills invested 
 with vineyards. The ruined arches of the old bridge carry the 
 imagination back into the ancient history of the town. On the 
 opposite side of the Rhone are the sunny plains of Languedoc, 
 which breathe odours and perfumes from a thousand wild herbs 
 and flowers. Mont Ventoux, in Dauphiny, closes the prospect 
 to the north ; its high summit covered with snow, whilst its sides 
 are robed in all the charms of vegetable nature. On the east 
 are the abrupt rocks and precipices of Vaucluse, distant about 
 five leagues, which complete, as it were, the garden-wall round 
 Avignon and its territory. 
 
 The climate of Avignon is so very salubrious and delightful, 
 that those things grow here spontaneously which require the 
 most laborious exertions in northern countries. There are cer- 
 tainly very rapid transitions, but neither the intensity of the 
 heat nor of the cold is of sufficient duration to be injurious to 
 health or pleasure. The air, except in actual rain, is always 
 dry ; and the sky is an ethereal Italian blue, scarcely ever ob- 
 scured by a cloud. When the rains come on, they are very 
 violent, but fall at once. The sun then bursts out, and the face 
 of nature appears more gay and animated than before. There is 
 one heavy detraction from the excellence of this climate, however, 
 and that is the wind denominated the vent de bize. The peculiar 
 situation of Avignon, at the mouth of a long avenue of moun- 
 tains, gives rise to this wind, which collects in the narrow chan- 
 nel of the mountains, and bursts out as from the mouth of a 
 barrel ; but it is considered as healthy, and very rarely does any 
 considerable damage. Caesar deified it, and raised an altar to it, 
 under the name of the Circian wind. The winters here, how- 
 ever, are sometimes rendered most distressingly cold by it ; so 
 that the Rhone is covered with ice sufficiently strong to support 
 loaded carts, and the olive trees perish to their roots. Avignon 
 is the capital of the department of Vaucluse, the department 
 being so named rather from the celebrity of the poet than its 
 local relations. There are many Jews and a handsome syna- 
 gogue in the city. In 1791 some horrid massacres were com- 
 mitted here, soon after its union with France. 
 
 £}Q Fifteen miles E. of Avignon is the fountain of VAUCLUSE, 
 perhaps the finest spring, and certainly the most celebrated, 
 
50 
 
 in Europe, being rendered immortal as the scene of Petrarch's 
 retirement. The river Sorgues issues from the fountain, and, 
 after watering the littie territory of Avignon, falls into the Rhone 
 near that city. Meadows of the most lively green skirt its sides, 
 above which rise abrupt and lofty rocks, that seem designed to 
 seclude it from human view. The valley gradually becomes 
 narrow towards the extremity, and, winding continually, de- 
 scribes the figure of a horse-shoe. The view is at length ter- 
 minated by an enormous mass of rock, forming a barrier across 
 it, of a prodigious height, and absolutely perpendicular. Through 
 its vast recesses run the streams which supply the fountain of 
 Vaucluse, and at its foot appears the basin of water, several 
 hundred feet in circumference, stretched like an expanse, silent 
 and quiet. The sides are very steep, and it is said that in the 
 middle no bottom can be discovered, though attempts have often 
 been made for that purpose. Though the fountain is clearer 
 than crystal, yet the incumbent rock casts a continual shade, 
 approaching to black, over its surface. The water escaping 
 from this state of inaction by a narrow passage is immediately 
 precipitated in a cascade down a rocky channel, where it foams 
 over a number of vast, detached stones which intercept and 
 impede its progress. The rocks that surround this romantic 
 spot are worn by time into a thousand extraordinary and fantastic 
 forms, to which imagination gives shape and figure. On one 
 of the pointed extremities, in a situation which appears almost 
 inaccessible, are seen the remains of an ancient castle project- 
 ing over the water, which the peasants call " 11 castello di Pe- 
 trarca;" and they add, with great simplicity, that Laura lived 
 upon the opposite side of the river, under the bed of which was 
 a subterraneous passage by which the lovers communicated. 
 The castle, however, belonged to the lords, or seigneurs, of 
 AVigncn ; the poet's dwelling was much lower down, nearer the 
 banks of the Sorgues, as appears from his minute description 
 of it, and the relation he gives of his quarrel with the Naiads 
 of the stream, who encroached during the winter on his little 
 adjoining territory. No remains of it are now to be discovered. 
 
 g] ( About 20 miles N. of Avignon, seated in a fine plain, 
 on the little river Aigues, is the ancient city of ORANGE, 
 formerly the capital of a principality and see of a bishop. It 
 had an university founded in 1365 by the Emperor Charles IV., 
 sovereignty of it was lodged in the house of Nassau, 
 . . to 1702, one of whom, Maurice of Nassau, Prince 
 
 of Orange 3 caused the castle, which stood on an eminence, 
 
5L 
 
 to be well fortified ; but in 1660 the fortifications, and in 1673 
 the castle itself, were demolished. Upon the death of Wil- 
 liam III., king of England, the principality reverted to Frederick 
 William of Prussia ; and, by the treaty of Utrecht, it was finally 
 ceded to the house of Bourbon. The principality was about 
 10 miles long and 7 broad, and contained one city, two small 
 towns, and nine villages, which were exempt from all the usual 
 taxes in France. Orange was an important place in the time 
 of the Romans, and is now visited by connoisseurs on account 
 of the antiquities it contains ; the chief of which is the trium- 
 phal arch, 200 paces from the town, but formerly within its 
 limits, which was much damaged in 1707 and 1709. It was 
 erected by Caius Marius and Luctatius Catulus, after the victory 
 which they obtained over the Cimbri and the Teutones, aiad is 
 still a beautiful remnant of antiquity. Here are also the remains 
 of a fine amphitheatre, and some aqueducts, which escaped the 
 fury of the Goths and Saracens. The whole of these edifices, 
 though defaced by the lapse of nearly two thousand years, are 
 still august and magnificent. 
 
 82. A few miles S. of Orange is the old town of PONT ST. 
 ESPRIT. The town is small and ill-built, and is a most 
 
 unpleasant prison-like place, containing about 6000 inhabitants, 
 cooped into a surprisingly small space ; the streets are so nar- 
 row that the people may almost shake hands from the upper m 
 windows ; no carriage of common width can pass ; the whole is 
 surrounded by high walls, and is defended by a citadel with 
 four royal bastions. It is mentioned here chiefly for its very 
 fine stone bridge, 3000 feet long, over the Rhone, from which 
 the town takes its name. This bridge was built in the middle 
 of the thirteenth -century, and consists of 19 great and 4 small 
 arches ; the extreme lightness of the structure, compared with 
 the depth, rapidity and width of the river, fills the mind with 
 astonishment. To facilitate the passage of the water in time of 
 floods, apertures have been made through each pier, about six 
 feet above the common level of the river; and to lessen the 
 extreme rapidity of the Rhone, the bridge is not built in a right 
 line;, but in the form of a curve. 
 
 83. CARPENTRAS is a city in tlieComtat Venaissin, 14 miles 
 N.E of Avignon. It is situated on the river Auson, sur- 
 rounded with walls, and contains about 12,000 inhabitants. It 
 is a bishop s see, and has many vestiges of Roman magni- 
 ficence. 
 
 c 2 
 
52 
 
 g4. ^ e con ^ nue our course to the handsome city of AIX, 
 the capital of the department of the Mouths of the Rhone, 
 20 miles N. of Marseilles, and 45 S.E. of Avignon. Before 
 the revolution it was the capital of Provence, the seat of 
 a parliament, and see of an archbishop. It is situated on 
 a plain, near the river Arc, and is surrounded by hills, 
 which give it an air of recluseness and romantic retirement, 
 without being so close as to prevent the due circulation of air. 
 It is surrounded by a wall, which is dilapidated, and is now only 
 interesting as a ruin. The interior of the town corresponds with 
 the importance of its first aspect ; it is well paved, the houses 
 are all fronted with white stone, and, the air being clear, it al- 
 ways looks clean and sprightly. Many of them have balconies, 
 and some of them are upon such a scale, both outside and in, 
 as is seldom exceeded in England. The cathedral is an immense 
 edifice, in the oldest Gothic style of architecture, and has all the 
 strength and substance which characterize that order. The 
 front is ornamented with figures of saints, prophets and angels, 
 grouped together in the most absurd manner, and wretchedly 
 executed. The grand portal is, however, very striking. The 
 promenade, or public walk, equals, if not exceeds, any thing 
 of the kind in Europe. The warm baths are very much cele- 
 brated, and have been so since the time of the Romans, who 
 founded this town, calling it Aquce Sextice ; the baths were re- 
 discovered not many years ago ; they are much frequented by 
 valetudinarians ; they are chiefly recommended in scorbutic hu^ 
 mours, colds, rheumatisms, palsies and consumptions. Provi- 
 sions of all kinds are in the greatest plenty ; fish is in great 
 abundance, and of the best quality ; meat is very reasonable, 
 and tolerably good ; bread is about a penny English per pound ; 
 and vegetables, as in other provincial towns, so cheap as scarcely 
 to be worth selling. Upon the whole, Aix is most delightfully 
 situated, and the environs are beyond conception rural and 
 beautiful. 
 
 35. ^ e 110 w c °me t° one of the most considerable places in 
 France— MARSEILLES, a flourishing city and sea-port, in 
 the department of the Mouths of the Rhone, 20 miles S. of Aix, 35 
 N.W. of Toulon, and 390 S. by E. of Paris. Marseilles pretends to 
 the most remote antiquity ; it is supposed to have been built 630 
 years before the birth of Christ by a colony of Phocians ; it was so 
 celebrated in the time of the Romans, that Cicero styled it the 
 " Athens of Gaul," and Pliny called it the " Mistress of Edueac 
 tion; 1 ' before the revolution, it was the seat of a bailiwick and a 
 
53 
 
 bishop's see. It is situated at thefoot of a mountain near the Medi- 
 terranean, and divided into the Old Town, or City, and the New 
 Town ; the formar lies on an eminence, and appears like an am- 
 phitheatre to the vessels entering the port ; but the houses are 
 mean, and the streets narrow, crooked, steep, and dirty: the 
 latter is modern and elegant : the streets are straight and broad, 
 and adorned with many handsome edifices. In this part is the 
 principal church, built on the ruins of the temple of Diana ; it 
 had three other churches, two abbeys, a great many religious 
 houses, a mint, an academy, and an observatory. The armoury, 
 which consists of four walks cross-wise, is the finest in France, 
 and contains arms for 40,000 men. The large arsenal was well 
 stored with all the implements for building and fitting out the 
 galleys, which have long been useless and neglected. The har- 
 bour is a parallelogram, having public and private buildings on 
 the two long sides and one on the shorter : the other side is the 
 issue into the Mediterranean, which is defended on each point 
 by a strong fort; the entrance is extremely narrow and difficult, 
 on account of a rocky cape near it ; it is surrounded by lofty 
 mountains, which protect and shelter vessels during the most 
 violent storms, but has not depth of water sufficient for men-of- 
 war. The port itself forms a delightful walk, as it is open to 
 the southern sun, and crowded with a vast number of people, not 
 only of all the European nations, but with Turks, Greeks, and 
 natives of Barbary. 
 
 Marseilles has been eminent since the days of antiquity for 
 its commerce, and it is now sometimes called Europe in minia- 
 ture, on account of the variety of dresses and languages ; in- 
 deed nature seems to have marked out this place for com- 
 merce by the advantages it possesses. Gold and silver stuffs 
 are the chief manufactures; the inhabitants are estimated at 
 90,000. The climate of Marseilles is superior to many other 
 parts of the south of France ; it is milder in winter, and cooler 
 during the heats of summer from its vicinity to the Mediter- 
 ranean. The country round is rocky and barren, but covered 
 for several miles on all sides with villas and summer-houses 
 which commerce has erected. In 1649 the plague raged with 
 great violence in Marseilles, and with still greater from 1720 to 
 1722, when it carried off 50,000 of the inhabitants. The walls 
 and fortifications round Marseilles are very strong ; besides the 
 forts at the entrance of the harbour, there is another on the top 
 of a mountain, built on the ruins of a temple of Venus, which 
 commands the town, and from which vessels are discovered at 
 sea as far as the eye can reach. Just outside the harbour are 
 the islands of If, Katonneau, and Pomegues, each strongly for- 
 
54 
 
 tified, having a castle, &e. and on one of them is the lazaretto. 
 Marseilles was once a republic of itself, at which time the ex- 
 penses of a law-suit among the citizens never exceeded 2|d./ 
 
 gg # Continuing our course along the shores of the Mediterra- 
 nean from Marseilles, we reach a place of still greater con- 
 sideration, TOULON, a city, sea-port, and capital of the depart- 
 ment of the Var, 35 miles S. E. of Marseilles, and 430 S. S. E. 
 of Paris. This is a place of great importance, strongly forti- 
 fied, the general magazine of naval stores, and the chief harbour 
 for all the French fleets in the Mediterranean. Before the re- 
 volution it was a bishop's see, and, besides the cathedral and 
 other parish churches, contained nine convents, a seminary, and 
 a college. The old and new harbour lie contiguous, and, by 
 means of a canal, communicate with one another, both having 
 an outlet into the spacious outer harbour, which is naturally al- 
 most of a circular figure, being very large and surrounded with 
 hills. The entrance on both sides is defended by a fort, with 
 strong batteries. The new harbour, the work of Louis XIV., 
 is well defended by batteries, and round it stands the arsenal, 
 where every man-of-war has its own particular storehouse, but 
 the guns and cordage are laid up separate. In it are spacious 
 working-houses for blacksmiths, joiners, carpenters, locksmiths, 
 carvers, &c. The rope-house is built wholly of free-stone, is 
 1920 feet in length, and has three arched walks, in which as 
 many parties of rope-makers may work at the same time. The 
 general magazine here, which supplies whatever may be wanting 
 in the particular store-houses for single ships, contains an im- 
 mense quantity of all kinds of stores, disposed in the greatest 
 order and conveniency. The cannon foundry is considerable. In 
 1707, the Duke of Savoy and Prince Eugene laid siege to this city, 
 but without success. In 1721 it suffered greatly by the plague. 
 In 1793 the inhabitants and Vice-admiral Trugoff entered into a 
 negociation with the English admiral, Lord Hood, then cruising 
 in the Mediterranean, and he took possession of the town and 
 shipping in the name of Louis XVII. General O'Hara was sent 
 with troops from Gibraltar as governor and commander in chief. 
 The republicans, however, soon recovered the place, Gen. O'Hara 
 was wounded and taken prisoner, and the city and port aban- 
 doned. On the 19th of December, the town was bombarded 
 from noon till ten o'clock at night; when the allies and part of 
 the inhabitants, having first set fire to the town and shipping, 
 precipitated their flight. Two chaloupes, filled with the fugi- 
 tives, were sunk by the batteries ; and a great part of the ships 
 and property fell into the hands of the republicans. 
 
55 
 
 £7 ^ only ten miles E. from Toulon to HIERES, a town, 
 " and formerly a sea-port, in the same department, where 
 pilgrims bound to the Holy Land used to embark ; but its har- 
 bour is now choked up, and the sea has retired to a considerable 
 distance from the town. It is situated on the declivity of a hill, 
 in a delightful country, enjoying perpetual spring; it is sur- 
 rounded by the most beautiful gardens, in which are found the 
 best fruits in France ; oranges, pomegranates and citrons grow 
 in the open air. During a great part of the winter the verdure 
 of the country is as fine as in the spring, and in many gardens 
 green peas may be gathered. Near the town are large salt- 
 works, in which the salt is made partly from the waters of the 
 sea and partly from a salt lake near the town ; the exhalations 
 from the lake rendering the air frequently malignant, the evil 
 was remedied by a canal cut from the lake to the sea. The gulf 
 between the town and island following is a famous road for ves- 
 sels, with good anchoring ground and sufficient dephth of water. 
 
 88 HIERES ISLES, a cluster of small islands in the Medi- 
 terranean, near the coast of the department of the Var, 
 which take their name from the town of Hieres. Four of them, 
 Porquerollos, Porteros, Bagneau, and Titon, are inhabited ; the 
 last is the largest, and is well cultivated. They are particularly 
 celebrated for the great variety of medicinal plants on them. 
 
 89. From Hieres we may sail along the coast and land at 
 ANTIBES, a sea-port in the department of the Var, about 
 10 miles S.W. of Grasse. It was the see of a bishop in the first 
 ages of Christianity, but the see was removed to Grasse by 
 Innocent IV. in 1250, on account of the piratical Moors of Africa 
 and Spain, who several times sacked the town and plundered the 
 inhabitants. The harbour is only capable of receiving small 
 vessels. The fortifications are very strong, and the citadel is 
 high and of difficult access. In 1740 this town was besieged 
 on the land side by the Austrians and at sea by the English ; it 
 was bombarded from the 26th of December till the 20th of 
 January, but without success ; and, though the town was half 
 reduced to ashes, it held out till relieved by Marshal Belleisle. 
 Buonaparte, previous to his own landing after his voyage from 
 Elba, ordered a captain of the guard with 25 men to land and 
 secure any battery on this coast, should there be one ; he entered 
 Antibes, intending to make the garrison change their cockade, 
 but the officer who commanded there for the king pulled up the 
 drawbridge, shut the gates, and detained them prisoners. 
 
56 
 
 QQ m Next to Antibes we may notice GRASSE, a town in the 
 department of the Var, onee the see of a bishop, situated 
 upon a hill not far from the sea, 15 miles W.S.W. of Nice. 
 There is a good trade here in dry fruit, oJives, oil, perfumes, and 
 tanned leather. 
 
 91 , Before we proceed to Digne, let us take in FREJUS, a 
 town in the department of the Var, seated in a morass near 
 the river Argens, 40 miles N. E. of Toulon. Before the revolu- 
 tion it was a bishop's see, and was a flourishing place as early 
 as the time of Julius Coesar; it was called Forum Julii, had then 
 a port upon the Mediterranean, from which it is now one mile 
 and a half distant, and is supposed to have been founded by a 
 colony from Marseilles. Many monuments of its ancient gran- 
 deur still remain, such as an aqueduct, an amphitheatre, statues, 
 inscriptions, &c. History relates that Julius Caesar established 
 his magazine here for the conquest of Gaul, at which time these 
 splendid edifices were constructed. Frejus is the birth-place of 
 that great Roman general and philosopher Agricola. 
 
 Q2. DIGNE is a city, and capital of the department of the 
 " Lower Alps, situated on the small river Mirabel, at the foot 
 of some mountains, 15 miles S.E. of Sisteron, and (iO S. W. of 
 Embrun. It contains about 3000 inhabitants, and has some ce- 
 lebrated mineral waters, used both externally and internally. 
 
 93. Pursuing our route to the north, we arrive at SISTERON, 
 ' a town in the department of the Lower Alps, situated on 
 the Durance, with a small citadel on a rock, which was the pri- 
 son of Casimir V. king of Poland, 15 miles N.W. of Digne, 
 formerly a bishop's see. 
 
 94 Before we come to Embrun, we must notice GAP, a city, 
 ' and capital of the department of the Higher Alps, 50 miles 
 S. of Grenoble, and 18 W. of Embrun. Before the revolution 
 it was the see of a bishop, and capital of a country called Gapen- 
 cois. In 1G92 the town was taken and burned by the Duke of 
 Savoy ; near it is a mineral spring. 
 
 05 EMBRUN, a city, in the department of the Higher Alps, 
 seated on the Durance, 56 miles S.E. of Gernoble, for- 
 merly the see of an archbishop, containing five parishes and 
 about 12,000 inhabitants. It was taken in 1692 by Victor Ama- 
 deus II. king of Sardinia, but abandoned soon after. Louis XIV. 3 
 
A Bellows Maker 
 
57 
 
 after this circumstance, built Mont Dauphin, as a protection to 
 the city. 
 
 96 b Seventeen miles N.E. of Embrun is BRIANCON; it is 
 situated in the department of the Upper Alps, on the 
 Durance, over which there is a bridge 180 feet high, and was 
 formerly the capital of Brianconnois. It is built at the foot of 
 a rock upon which is its castle and, from its situation, is es- 
 teemed the highest town in Europe. Briancon is celebrated for 
 its manna ; it is very rare in Europe, is a sort of white gum 
 very sweet and sugary, which oozes during the great heats of 
 summer from a sort of pines, unknown elsewhere, called Me- 
 leses ; at first it runs of itself from the leaves and small branches, 
 on which it remains attached in little globules ; afterwards in- 
 cisions are made in the trees to cause it to run in greater quan- 
 tities. An abundant produce of this is indicative of great drought, 
 bad seasons, and bad harvests. 
 
 This is one of the seven wonders which Dauphiny contains ; 
 it was a saying of Louis XI., when Dauphin, " that this province 
 had as many wonders as the whole world;" he might have added, 
 that those are still in existeuce, and that the wonders of the world 
 are only to be found in history. The first of them is a mountain 
 of prodigious height, 15 miles from Grenoble, steep on all 
 sides, separated from the neighbouring mountains, and much 
 larger at the top than bottom, so that at a distance it ap- 
 pears like a pyramid reversed. The second is a burning 
 fountain, 8 miles from Grenoble, famous in the time of Au- 
 gustin, and mentioned by him, Civ. Dei, c. vii. 1. 21. Its 
 waters are naturally cold, but when its stream is turned to pass 
 along a neighbouring field the flames are perceived; still the 
 water continues cold as long as it runs, though covered with 
 flames ; but if its course is stopped with sods of earth, then it is 
 overcast, and becomes thick and hot. It is supposed that there 
 are subterraneous fires under this field, from which it raises ex- 
 halations to produce these wonderful effects ; or probably they 
 are of bituminous origin. The third is the manna. The fourth 
 is a grotto on the banks of the Rhone, amazingly large and 
 deep, called " La Balme." The water, which falls drop by 
 drop from the top of the rock, crystallizes, and forms a variety 
 of curious figures by its congelation. There are a great many- 
 natural fountains in it ; and, about a thousand paces in, there is 
 a lake, a league in length, upon which Francis I caused two 
 boats to be carried. The fifth are the immense stone cisterns 
 of Sassenage, called " Les Cuves de Sassenage." The sixth is 
 
 c 3 
 
58 
 
 also found at the foot of the mountains of Sassenage ; they are 
 stones nearly of the size and figure of a lentil, very smooth, of 
 a white colour, which, they say, have the wonderful property 
 of cleansing the eye of any dust or other inconvenience that may 
 enter it, by putting one of them between the eye and eye-lid, 
 when, running round the eye, it drives out the cause of the pain, 
 and then falls to the ground. Sassenage is a town in the 
 department of the Isere, about 3 miles E. of Grenoble, contains 
 many other curiosities, and is also celebrated for its cheese. 
 The seventh is the " Tour sans veirin," about 2 \ miles from 
 Grenoble, so called because there has never been seen either in 
 this tower, which is half ruined and decayed, or in the neigh- 
 bourhood, any of those venomous insects which seek an asylum 
 in old forsaken buildings ; even when brought here, they imme- 
 diately disappear. This has been imputed to the air, or some 
 plants near the tower to which they have an aversion. 
 
 We next come to the important city of GRENOBLE, the 
 capital of the department of the Isere, situated on the river 
 lsere, near its confluence with theDrac, 58 miles S.E of Lyons, 
 and 100 W. of Turin. Before the revolution it was the capital 
 of Dauphiny, the see of a bishop, and the seat of a parliament. 
 It stands at the foot of a hill, in a fruitful plain. Grenoble was 
 ranked among the most beautiful cities of France for its houses, 
 churches, and public places and buildings. The cathedral is 
 very ancient ; and among the churches that of the Jacobins is 
 also ancient, and much admired for the architecture of its choir, 
 as well as for a monument of Andrew, son of Hubert, last Prince 
 of Dauphiny, who fell through a window whilst sporting in the 
 arms of his father. There were a great many convents, monas- 
 teries, chartreuses and hospitals in Grenoble ; the governor's 
 palace and parliament-house were superb building; there are 
 two bridges over the lsere, one of stone, the other of wood on 
 piles of stone. The bishops of Grenoble were styled princes. 
 Without the town was a convent of Minims, where the illustrious 
 Chevalier Bayard, by whom alone Francis I. would be knighted, 
 was interred, whose uncle was the founder. 
 
 ()g # About nine miles from Grenoble is the GRANDE CHAR- 
 TREUSE, a celebrated monastery, the chief of the order, 
 where St. Bruno, retiring from the world about 1086, formed 
 his retreat. It is in a most romantic situation at the entrance 
 of a rocky vale, which is about half a league long and two or 
 three hundred paces broad, and walled round, as it were, with 
 
59 
 
 mountains covered with firs and pines. The church of the 
 monastery is wainscoted and inlaid in a most singular and ad- 
 mirable manner ; the cloister is 300 paces long, where were to 
 be seen the prior's apartment and chapel, the apartments of the 
 king, of the bishop of Grenoble and of the visitors, &c. There 
 was a grand hall here ornamented with many pictures repre- 
 senting the principal chartreuses of Europe. As the building 
 had no symmetry in its design, its situation being very uneven, 
 and made at different times, it is necessary to ascend and 
 descend continually in going from one part of it to another. 
 There is a mountain torrent and a chapel at the extremity of 
 the valley, where St. Bruno used to perform penance. The cha- 
 pel is large, was filled with beautiful paintings, and built upon 
 the spot where the monks say the Virgin appeared to the holy 
 man. In this place as well as other parts of the monastery the 
 actions of St. Bruno are depicted. 
 
 99 # We now turn to the S. W. to describe VALENCE, a city 
 and capital of the department of the Drome, on the left 
 bank of the Rhone, 65 miles N. of Avignon, and 43 S.W. of 
 Grenoble. It was formerly a bishop's see and capital of the 
 principality called Valentinois. In 1454 an university was 
 brought here from Grenoble. The town is delightfully situ- 
 ated in a plain six or eight miles in breadth, an l was well 
 known to the Romans under the name of Valentia, so named 
 from its healthy site, or from the military strength of its 
 situation. The rocks in its vicinity give it an air of great wild- 
 ness, but the town has nothing but its situation to recommend 
 it. The streets are narrow, without air, and very dirty. There 
 is a church of very remote antiquity ; it was evidently built by 
 the Romans, but has been so much altered, that it is difficult 
 to say whether its original destination was a theatre or a tem- 
 ple. Provisions are incomparably cheap here, groceries alone 
 excepted, which throughout all France are double the price 
 they bear in England. 
 
 100. MONTELIMART is a town in the department of the 
 Drome, 25 miles S. of Valence, and 44 N. of Avignon. 
 It is situated in a plain, covered with corn and vineyards, and 
 here and there interspersed with tufts of chestnut trees, which 
 give it a rural and pleasing appearance. It is built on the bank 
 of the small river Robiou, which runs into the Rhone, is a walled 
 town and has usually a strong garrison; however it ha£ the 
 same character as all the other towns on the Rhone, the streets 
 
GO 
 
 are narrow, and the houses low. The inhabitants of Mcmteli- 
 mart are said to have been the first in France who embraced the 
 doctrines of the reformation. There are here some manufac- 
 tures of wool, silk and leather. The road from Valence to 
 Montelimart especially approaching the latter, is lined with 
 chestnut and mulberry trees, and plentifully intersected with 
 vineyards and orchards. For mile succeeding mile it is more 
 like a garden than an open country; the fields are covered with 
 flowers, the hedges of the vineyards breathe forth a most de- 
 lightful odour, and every thing tends to cheer the heart, and to 
 refresh the senses. Most of the cottages are delightfully 
 situated, but are invariably without glass to the windows, and 
 the climate is so dry and mild, that they sleep with them thus 
 exposed. 
 
 101. ^ et us now ^oss the Rhone to mention PRI V AS, a city 
 and capital of the department of the Ardeche, 14 miles 
 
 S.W. of Valence. It is situated on a small river about 5 miies 
 from the Rhone> and contains about 15(10 inhabitants, 
 
 102. Pawing our south-westerly direction, we must stop a 
 moment at MENBE, a city and capital of the depart- 
 ment of Lozere, 45 miles E. of Rhodez, and 54 S.W. of Privas. 
 it is seated on an eminence near the Lot, and contains about 
 5000 inhabitants. Before the revolution it was the see of a 
 bishop. 
 
 103. The ** e xt place worth mention that we arrive at ? is 
 RHODEZ, a city and capital of the department. of the 
 
 Aveiron, 74 miles N.E. of Toulouse. Before the revolution 
 it was a bishop's see. Here are four great annual fairs where 
 mules are sold for Spain, and some manufactures of coarse 
 cloth. The lofty steeple of the cathedral is much admired. 
 The town is situated in the midst of mountains, on a hill, at 
 the foot of which flows the Aveiron. 
 
 1 04. ^ e again change our course, and, after passing through 
 many small towns and villages, reach the city of TULLE, 
 
 the capital of the department of Correze, which is the only 
 claim it has to our attention. Before the revolution it was the 
 capital of Lower Limosin and a bishop's see; it is situated at 
 the confluence of the rivers Correze and Solan ; the cathedral 
 was remarkable for its spire. 
 
m 
 
 1 05. To the west of Tulle > is PERIGUEIJX, a city and capital 
 of the department of Dordogne, 50 miles S.W. of Li- 
 moges, formerly the capital of Perigord, a bishop's see and re- 
 sidence of a governor. It is situated on the rive; Ille, and con- 
 tains about 6000 inhabitants. There are some remains of Ro- 
 man antiquities here, the chief are a temple of Venus and an 
 amphitheatre. Perigueux is famous for its partridge pies, which 
 are sent all over Europe. 
 
 10(5. LIMOGES is the next place we mention, a city and capi- 
 tal of the department of Upper Vienne, 108 miles N. E. 
 of Bourdeaux, and 200 S. of Paris. It stands among hills near 
 the river Vienne, and was formerly the capital of Liinosin and 
 a bishop's see It is a town of considerable trade, and has a 
 population of 13,000 persons. Limoges is situated partly in a 
 valley and partly on the top of a small hill ; it is very long, but 
 not broad, contains many churches, colleges, convents, &c. and 
 some squares with fountains in them; the narrow and crooked 
 streets of this city are a proof of its antiquity, but the houses 
 are generally built of mud, or a composition made with sand and 
 chopped hay, and the roofs advance so far over the street that 
 the sun can scarcely be seen at mid-day. The fortifications 
 consist in deep fosses. Caesar found Limoges strong, large and 
 populous. This place was taken from the Visigoths, by the 
 French, under Clovis, after whose death it came to the dukes of 
 Aquitaine, and in dowry with Eleonora, to Henry II. of Eng- 
 land ; after which it fell with the rest of the country to the kings 
 of France. 
 
 107^ Directly east of Limoges is CLERMONT, a city and 
 capital of the department of the Puy de Dome, 84 miles 
 W. of Lyons, and 210 S. of Paris, formerly the capital of Au-« 
 vergne and a bishop's see. It is situated on a small eminence, 
 in one of the most fertile districts of France, is a well-built and 
 pleasant town, and contains about 30,000 inhabitants. Moun- 
 tains, and hills covered with vines, surround this place on one 
 side in the manner of a horse-shoe, and on the other side is a 
 delightful prospect of a rich and agreeable country. The cathe- 
 dral, which has four handsome towers, is remarkable for its 
 architecture and grandeur; there were three other churches, an 
 abbey repaired by Pope Paschal II. and some public buildings 
 worthy of observation. Its commerce is in corn, wine, wool, 
 woollen stufts, tammies, serges, linen, lace, &c. There are 
 some mineral springs near; and the water of a brook, which 
 
62 
 
 passes through one of the fauxbourgs, so thoroughly petrified a 
 wooden bridge that carriages can pass over it. A council was 
 held here in the year 1095, to determine on the crusade against 
 the infidels in the Holy Land in the pontificate of Urban II. 
 
 I0g The palace or castle of CHANTILLY, about 10 miles 
 S.S.E. of Clermont, was a most noble building, and no 
 one can behold its ruins without feelings of distress and regret. 
 It formerly belonged to the family of Montmorenci, and de- 
 volved to the house of Conde by marriage with the heiress, when 
 the male line of that famous family, the head of which styled 
 himself the first Christian baron, failed. The ground floor is 
 the only part now remaining perfect ; it formerly served as offices 
 and cellars. The orangery was 400 feet, square, but not a vestige 
 remains ; and the whole of these gardens, which were so de- 
 lightful in the time of Louis XVI. full of canals, fountains and 
 *• cascades, are a complete ruin. No remains of the celebrated 
 water-works are to be seen ; nor of the armoury, in which were 
 preserved the armour of the Princes of Conde and of the old 
 family ot Montmorenci, that of some of the kings of France, of 
 Joan of Arc, and of another French amazon of an illustrious fami- 
 ly. The tennis-court is still in good preservation, but the theatre 
 was destroyed. A small chateau is also standing, which was 
 lately fitted up for the reception of Louis XVIII. on his way to 
 Paris; he went however by Compeigne. The stables are well 
 known as a vast and elegant building capable of holding 400 
 horses. Adjoining are several dog-kenne!s as magnificent as 
 the stables, and a large court surrounded with buildings and 
 apartments for the officers and servants belonging to the stables. 
 The stables are 350 feet long and 200 feet high ; and are a 
 noble monument of the former splendour of this interesting 
 spot. The household of the Prince of Conde consisted of above 
 500 persons. The forest of Chantilly is very fine, and extended 
 many miles in circumference. This forest, like the many 
 others which surround Paris, within 20 miles of that city, is cut 
 through with wide paths which meet in one or more centres, 
 according to the size of the wood, and form stars. The paths 
 are for the purpose of hunting. 
 
 It appears that the whole of this magnificent place had been 
 purchased by a petty builder, in the revolutionary period, for 
 the sake of the materials ; who had no sooner completed his 
 instalments than he began the demolition of the building, and 
 cutting down the trees. Buonaparte, however, having been 
 made first Consul, before the whole was destroyed, it was re- 
 purchased, and became the property of the government. 
 
63 
 
 [09. Before we proceed to Lyons, our route conducts us through 
 a mountainous district to AURILLAC, a town in the de- 
 partment ef Cautal, before the revolution the capital of Lower 
 Auvergne ; it is seated in a fertile valley, on the river Jordanne, 
 30 miles W of St. Flour, and 250 S. of Paris. It is a popu- 
 lous trading town, and one of the most thriving iu France, has 
 manufactures of lace and velvet, and is full of busy workshops, 
 cutlers, copper-smiths, curriers, shoe-makers and tanners, all 
 following their occupations with that sort of spirit which im- 
 plies and ensures prosperity. There is a Haras, or Depot de 
 Chevaux, at Aurillac, for the supply of the royal stud. It con- 
 tains in royal stables, formerly a convent, about 35 horses, se- 
 veral of them chargers of the Emperor. His famous white Ara- 
 bian (Superbe) is of the number. The air is very healthy at 
 Aurillac ; there is a canal in each street, which carries off all 
 uncleanness into the Jordanne. 
 
 110. The cit Y of ST - FLOUR must be noticed as the capital 
 of the department of Cantal, 50 miles S. of Clermont, 
 
 formerly the capital of Upper Auvergne, and see of a bishop. 
 It is situated on a hill, by the river Ladour; and the inhabitants 
 carry on a considerable trade in corn, and manufacture cloth, 
 carpets and cutlery. 
 
 111. Pursuing a westerly course, we reach LE PUY, a city 
 and capital of the department of the Upper Loire, seated 
 
 on the mountain Anis, 67 miles S.W. of Lyons, formerly a bi- 
 shop's see. The cathedral is famous for a prodigious quantity 
 of relics, and our Lady of Puy is celebrated in the annals of 
 superstition. The late canons of Puy have had kings and dau- 
 phins of France at their head. It stands on a small river near 
 the Loire, has a considerable trade, especially in lace, with a 
 population of about 14,000. 
 
 112 ST. ETIENNE is an important town in the same depart- 
 ment, 28 miles S. S. W. of Lyons. It was surrounded 
 with walls by Charles VII. but from the increased population 
 they are of little use; the inhabitants are about 18,000; the 
 principal manufactures in arms, hardware and cutlery to be 
 found in France are here ; the ribbon manufacture is also very 
 considerable ; and there are some rich coal mines, and soft stones 
 fit for grind-stones, in the neighbourhood. It is seated on the 
 brook Eureus, the water of which is excellent for tempering 
 metals. 
 
64 
 
 113. LYONS is the second city in France in point of size and 
 population, and superior to Paris in trade, commerce and 
 manufactures ; it is the capital of the department of the Rhone 
 and Loire, and is situated, by the side of two high mountains, 
 at the confluence of the Rhone and Saone, about 240 miles 
 S. S. E. of Paris. Nothing can be more delightful than the ap- 
 proach to, and situation of Lyons ; distributed as it were on hills 
 and dales, at the confluence of two of the loveliest rivers in the 
 world, with lawns, corn-fields, woods and vine-yards interposed, 
 and gardens, trees, &c. intermixed with the nouses, all which 
 give it an air of liveliness, animation, cleanness and rural beau- 
 ty, which seldom belong to a populous city. The distant Alps, 
 too, rising in the back ground, add magnificence to beauty. It 
 was founded ten years before the birth of Christ, by Lucius 
 Munatius Plane us, and peopled by a colony of Romans, who had 
 been driven from Vienne by the Allobroges. About the year 
 145 it was totally destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt by the mu- 
 nificence of Nero ; many vestiges of antiquity still remaining 
 evince its Roman origin. Before its recent calamities it con- 
 tained about 100,000 inhabitants, was a generality, and the see 
 of an archbishop, who was primate of France, and who had for- 
 merly great political power over the Lyonnois. 
 
 The Saone runs through Lyons and divides it into two parts, 
 which are connected by three bridges; the largest and most 
 populous part lies on a tongue of land, at the point of which 
 was an immense abbey. The cathedral is a large Gothic build- 
 ing, and beautifully situated near the river; its clock is a 
 great favourite with the inhabitants, which is oramented by a 
 cock, so contrived as to crow every hour. Before the revolu- 
 tion, the church of Lyons was the richest in France, or Europe. 
 All the canons were counts, and were not admissible till they 
 had proved sixteen quarters of nobility ; they wore a gold cross 
 of eight rays. There are many other very large and handsome 
 churches, and the houses in general are high and well built. 
 The town-house is esteemed one of the most beautiful in Europe. 
 It is in the form of a parallelogram, with wings on each side of 
 the front, each wing being nearly 150 yards in length. The 
 middle of the wings are crowned with cupolas, and the gates 
 have all Ionic pillars. But the best praise of Lyons is in its 
 charitable institutions, hospitals and schools. In no city in the 
 world have they so great a proportion to the population and size 
 of the town ; they are equal to the support of one eight of the 
 inhabitants. The Hotel de Dieu is, in fact, a palace built for 
 the sick poor ; the rooms are lofty with cupolas, and all of them 
 
A Mellon Merchant 
 
 A Fruit Girl 
 
65 
 
 very carefully ventilated; the beds are extremely clean, so is the 
 kitchen, and every utensil in it. The offices of nursing, feed- 
 ing-, &c. of the sick are performed by a religious society of 
 about 100 men and the same number of women, who devote 
 themselves to these purposes. The men are dressed in black, 
 and the women in the habits of nuns. This charity is open to 
 all nations ; to be an admissible object, nothing further is neces- 
 sary than to stand in need of its assistance. This is true cha- 
 rity. Lyons has six gates and four suburbs, and, before the 
 revolution, the other public buildings were four abbeys, fifty 
 convents, three public schools, two colleges, two general hospi- 
 tals^ an academy of arts, sciences and belles-lettres, an exchange, 
 a custom-house, a palace of justice, a veterinary school, two 
 theatres, a public library, three forts, an arsenal well supplied 
 and arranged, magnificent quays, &c. 
 
 The trade is immense with Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Ger- 
 many, Holland, England, and with other parts of France; 
 there are four celebrated fairs every year. The manufactures 
 are not now in the same flourishing state as formerly, in conse- 
 quence of being confined in their supply to the home market. 
 Some years since the silk stockings alone worked up at Lyons 
 were estimated at 1500 pair daily. 
 
 The horrible ravages of the revolution have much defaced this 
 town. La Place de Belle Cour was once the finest square which 
 any provincial town in Europe could boast. It was composed 
 of the most magnificent houses, the habitations of such of the 
 nobility as were accustomed to reside at Lyons. That demon in 
 human shape, Collot d'Herbok, being sent to Lyons as one of 
 the Jacobin commissioners, by one and the same decree con- 
 demned the houses to be rased to the ground, and their posses- 
 sors to be guillotined. 
 
 Early in the revolution an union was formed between Lyons, 
 Marseilles and Toulon, under the title of a Federal Republic, 
 contrary to the general wish, which was for a republic one and 
 indivisible. Lyons was consequently declared to be in a state of 
 rebellion ; and after a siege of two months, in which the Lyon- 
 nese lost 2000 men, and great part of the city was reduced to 
 ashes, it surrendered. It is supposed that not less than 70,000 
 persons in this unfortunate city alone were either put to death 
 or forced into exile ; besides the almost constant operation of the 
 guillotine, they were driven in great numbers into the Rhine, 
 and hurried in crowds to the squares to be massacred by fire- 
 arms and artillery. By a decree of the convention the walls and 
 public buildings were ordered to be destroyed, and the name of 
 the city itself to be changed to that of VUle Affranelne ; but 
 
66 
 
 this decree was afterwards repealed. Provisions, lodging's, 
 houses, &c. are very cheap in Lyons, and the society is select 
 and well informed, which render it a very desirable place of 
 residence for foreigners. It was entered by the allies, in March 
 ] 814, but evacuated by them on the restoration of the Bourbons. 
 
 Lyons has given birth to many celebrated men ; among them 
 was De Lanzy^ the well-known mathematician, and friend of 
 Maupertuis. He lived to such an extreme age as to survive his 
 memory and faculties ; but when so insensible as to know no one 
 about him, Maupertuis suddenly asked him what was the square 
 of 12, and he readily replied 144, and died, it is said, almost 
 in the same moment. This illustrious genius was as simple as 
 he was learned, and was yet more distinguished by his charities 
 than his learning. The celebrated Thon was also a native of 
 this place. Lyons is connected by a stone bridge with the beau- 
 tiful village La Guillotiere; it consists of 20 arches, and is up- 
 wards of 1560 feet in length. 
 
 The best view of Lyons is from the mountain Fourviere, op- 
 posite the peninsula upon which the largest part of the city is 
 built ; on the side and at the base of this mountain the other 
 part is stretched along the Saone in the form of an amphitheatre. 
 The summit of Fourviere is crowned with a church, which is a 
 striking object in the approach to Lyons. In the neighbourhood 
 of the city are numerous chateaux, most delightfully situated, 
 with lawns, pleasure-grounds, gardens, &c. in the English taste. 
 In the summer season, public breakfasts are almost daily given 
 by one or other of the possessors. Marquees are then erected 
 on the lawn, and all the military bands in the town attend ; and 
 the day and great part of the night is consumed in dancing and 
 various amusements. 
 
 114. Forty-five miles N.W. of Lyons, in the same department, 
 is the large town of ROANNE, seated on the Loire. It 
 
 is very ancient, and its appearance corresponds with its anti- 
 quity: the streets are narrow, crooked and dirty; and the houses 
 shabby. Indeed Roanne deserves notice only from its situation 
 on the Loire where it first begins to be navigable, which renders 
 it a place of great bustle, and a convenient staple for all the 
 merchandize, corn, wine, &c. sent frrom Lyons and other places 
 down the Loire, and by the canal of Briare into the Seine, and 
 thence to Paris, Orleans, Nantes, &c. 
 
 1 15. burning to the west from Roanne, we pass through Cus- 
 'set, Montaigu, &c. to GUERET, a city and capital of 
 
 the department of the Creuse, 35 miles N.E. of Limoges. It 
 
67 
 
 is situated near the source of the river Garteinpe, between two 
 mountains, at some distance from the Creuse, and was formerly 
 the capital of the province of Marche. The air is thick, which 
 gives the inhabitants a heavy, melancholy appearance ; the po« 
 pulation is about 3000. 
 
 116. ® m route next conducts us through Preuiliy to TOURS, 
 a city and capital of the department of the Indre and 
 Loire, 127 miles S. S. W. of Paris; before the revolution it was 
 the capital of Touraine, a generality and see of an archbishop. 
 Nothing can be more charming than the situation of this town ; 
 in a plain between two rivers, the Loire and the Cher, and this 
 plain subdivided into compartments of every variety of cultivated 
 land, corn fields studded with fruit trees, and a range of hills 
 in the distance covered with vineyards to their summits, whilst 
 every eminence has its villa, abbey, or ruined tower. The cities 
 in F iiice r a»t least those on the Loire, have all somewhat of a 
 rurdi Uaracter : this may be imputed to their comparative want 
 of trade and manufacture. In France trade has more room than 
 she can v II fill, and there are few towns but have larger quays 
 than thci; commerce requires, and still fewer but what have more 
 manufactures than they have capital to keep them c mployed. 
 Tours has a gay, brisk and clean appearance. There is here a 
 very noble bridge over the Loire, of 15 arches, each 75 feet in 
 diameter ; at one end of the bridge is the castle, composed of 
 many round towers. In the reign of the unfortunate T ouis a 
 great part of the town was burned down, and nearly the whole 
 of the main street was laid out and rebuilt at the expense of that 
 monarch. What before was close and narrow was then widened, 
 and the houses were built of a white stone so as to give this part 
 of the town a perfect resemblance to Bath ; the street is 2400 
 feet long and crosses the whole city ; the population is 33,000. 
 
 The cathedral is open at all hours in the day, and with more 
 decency than in England, at the exhibition of public national 
 buildings, is not shown for money. — And here I would observe, 
 by the w T ay, that this practice of extorting a pecuniary gratifica- 
 tion from those who are curious and inquisitive enough to exa- 
 mine such places as the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, 
 Westminster Abbey, kc. &c. is a disgrace to a free and honour- 
 able nation, and mean and pitiful in the highest degree. There 
 is nothing of the sort in any other kingdom in the world ; and 
 foreigners are disgusted and indignant at finding our monuments 
 of national greatness turned into a puppet-show.— The cathedral 
 of Tours possesses a library of most valuable manuscripts ; 
 
68 
 
 amongst these is a copy of the Pentateuch, written in the alphas- 
 bet of the country upwards of eleven hundred years ago. There 
 is likewise a copy of the foar Evangelists, written in Saxon let- 
 ters, in the beginning of the fifth century, about fifty years after 
 Constantine declared Christianity to be the religion of the 
 Roman empire. St. Martin's Church is celebrated for being 
 the largest in France, and for the tomb of St. Martin, whom 
 tradition reports to be buried here; the tomb is of black mar- 
 ble, behind the great altar, and is very simple and striking. 
 The ancient kings of France used to come to this tomb previ- 
 ous to any of their important expeditions ; and after having 
 made the usual prayers of intercession, used to take away the 
 mantle of the saint, as the banner under which they were to 
 light : this mantle still remains. There was formerly a silk 
 manufactory here, very extensive and celebrated, but at pre- 
 sent it is in a drooping condition : there is also a ribbon manu- 
 factory, but the ribbons produced are very inferior to those of 
 England. Provisions, house-rent, fuel, &c. are very cheap ; 
 the former very plentiful, and the latter must be considered as 
 an exception to the general high price of it in France. The 
 name of the Huguonots, a party which so fatally divided 
 France during three reigns, originated in one of the gates of 
 this city, which is called the Hugon gate, from Hugo, an 
 ancient count of Tours. 
 
 The provinces of Touraine and the Limosin have been the 
 favourite of painters and poets from time immemorial. Here 
 the Troubadours have built their castles, have settled their ma- 
 gicians, and bound their ladies in enchanted gardens. In 
 Touraine and all the country on the banks of the Loire, there 
 is scarcely a glen, a grove, or a shady recess, but what has its 
 fairy or elfin tale belonging to it. What one of the French 
 poets has said of the Seine may be said with more truth 
 of the Loire, " All its women are queens, and all its young 
 men poets." The climate exactly corresponds with this sin- 
 gular beauty of the country. In many years there is no such 
 thing as snow, and frosts are not frequent, and never severe ; 
 the rainy weather comes usually at once, and is confined to 
 the spring; there are no fogs and vapours as in the nothern 
 parts of the kingdom : the spring is a continuation of such 
 weather as is seen in England about the middle of May. 
 The vent de bize is very rare in these provinces ; the great 
 heats are from the middle of July to the middle of August, 
 During this time the climate of Touraine exceeds any thing that 
 is common in England. The heaths are covered with thyme, 
 
69 
 
 lavender, rosemary, and the juniper-tree ; nothing can be more 
 delightful than the fragrance, when the wind blows over 
 them. The hedges are every where interspersed with flowers, 
 and there are blossoms of some kind or other throughout the 
 year. There are some drawbacks, however from this excel- 
 lence of climate ; the countries south of the Loire are subject to 
 violent storms of rain and hail, and the latter is sometimes so 
 violent as to beat down all the corn and vintage on which it 
 may fall : these hail-storms are not so frequent now as former- 
 ly ; they used to come on with a violence which swept away 
 every thing before them, destroying cattle and killing even 
 men. Such storms however are now considered as natural 
 phenomena. 
 
 117 About a mile from Tours is the cidevant royal palace of 
 ' PLESSIS-LES-TOURS, famous for having been the scene 
 of the illness and death of the superstitious tyrant Louis XL in 
 1483. The walls were covered with iron spikes, and a continual 
 guard kept watch during the last sad hours of the guilty and ex- 
 piring monarch ; notwithstanding he had the precaution to be 
 covered all over with relics, and would never permit Vincent de 
 Paul, who was sent for from Italy on purpose, to be out of his 
 sight. The building is yet handsome, and perfect in all its 
 parts, though built in 1450 and composed of brick, is plea- 
 santly situated, being surrounded with wood, and has some 
 large apaitrnents. In the chapel is a portrait of the tyrant, in 
 complete armour, which is considered a masterpiece, and is 
 much admired. The castle is now converted to purposes of 
 commerce. 
 
 118. ^bout 20 miles S. S. E. of Tours, in the same department, 
 on the river Indre, is the town of LOCHES, chiefly 
 noted for its castle, which stands on a rock and was formerly a 
 very important fortification. The castle of Loches is very 
 famous in the history of France, and was in former ages the 
 asual place of confinement for prisoners of the highest quality, 
 its origin remounts to the most remote antiquity, nor is there 
 any tradition which pretends to ascertain the name of its foun- 
 der or the time of its construction. It has been enlarged, re- 
 built and fortified by successive sovereigns, and had four ranges 
 of subterraneous passages runing over each other. Charles VII. 
 frequently resided and held his court here ; and Rene, Duke of 
 A tendon, one of the princes of the blood, was long detained a 
 prisoner here, by that monarch's order, for his treasonable 
 
70 
 
 practices and introducing the English into the kingdom, in 
 a very large and ancient square tower, are two cages with very 
 strong oak grates, covered with iron, about 11 feet square, in 
 one of which the cruel Louis XI. confined the Cardinal de la 
 Balue more than nine years. In the uppermost of the subter- 
 raneous passages is the chamber where the perfidious Ludovico 
 Sforza the Moor, Duke of Milan, was imprisoned by Louis 
 XII. for ten years, and where he died in 1510. It is a large 
 vaulted apartment, with one window secured by three gratings 
 of iron, though which the sun in the midst of summer about 
 noon, darts its rays for a few minutes. On the wall exactly 
 opposite are distinctly to be traced the remains of a dial or 
 meridian, upon which the beams of the sun darted, and which, 
 they say, was cut by the hand of Sforza to amuse himself in his 
 hours of solitude; the walls and roof are covered with inscrip- 
 tions now illegible. The " Oubliettes," or subterranean dun- 
 geons, are labyrinths hollowed into the earth of a vast extent 
 and totally destitute of light; the air itself is so moist and 
 unwholesome as almost to extinguish the flambeaus. Circular 
 holes are pointed out in many places of the incumbent rock, 
 through which they let down the wretched victims destined to 
 perish in these caverns ; doors of massy iron closed up the en- 
 trance and prevented all possibility of succour or escape. The 
 greater part of the castle is now in ruins. 
 
 In the principal church of Loches is the tomb of the cele- 
 brated Agnes Soreilfe, surimmed the beautiful Agnes, because, 
 says Monstrelet, qu enire les plus belles femmes elle etoit la 
 plus helle. Her monument was elegant, of black marble, and 
 on it are her effigies executed in white alabaster. She is the 
 heroine of this part, and a thousand fables respecting her beauty, 
 liberality, magnanimity and power over the king Charles VI L 
 are yet preserved ; she was the lady of Beaulieu. 
 
 119. leaving the very delightful neighbourhood of Tours, we 
 bend our course towards Evreux, but first notice CHA- 
 
 TEAUDUN, a town in the department of the Eure and Loire, 
 on an eminence near the Loire, containing about 3000 inhabi- 
 tants, 30 miles N. of Blois. There is a eastk here built by the 
 famous Count of Bunois, The streets are straight, the houses 
 uniform, and the great square spacious. 
 
 120. EVREUX is a city and capital of the department of the^ 
 # Eure, seated on the I ton, 26 miles S. of Rouen, and 55 
 
 almost W. of Paris. Before the revolution it was a bishop's see 
 
71 
 
 and contained eight parishes ; the cathedral is a handsome struc- 
 ture. Evreux has a manufactory of cotton velvets, and an- 
 other of ticken, which is not inferior to that of Brussels ; these, 
 with woollen and linen cloth, lace, grain, wine and cider, con- 
 stitute the chief articles of commerce. 
 
 121. O ur route now conducts us very near the capital, to 
 ST. GERMAIN, a town in the department of the Seine 
 
 and Oise, situated on the Seine, near a fine forest, 10 miles 
 W. N.W. of Paris. Robert king of France built a palace here, 
 which was destroyed by the English in the year 1346 ; another 
 palace was erected by Francis I. which several succeeding kings 
 enlarged, particularly Louis XIV. who was born here. Here 
 also James II. of England found an asylum when he fled to 
 France. 
 
 122. ^ e next not i° e BRETEUIL, a town in the department 
 of the Oise, 18 miles S. of Amiens, and 52 N. of Paris. 
 
 It is a very dirty, paltry town ; the houses are all built in the 
 ancient style, and bear an unfavourable resemblance to English 
 farm-houses ; their gable ends are turned to the streets, and the 
 chimneys are nearly as large as the roofs. The country, how- 
 ever, in the immediate environs of Breteuil is very beautiful, 
 and for five or six miles beyond the town towards Clermont the 
 scenery is enchanting. The vines commence here, the road is 
 fringed with orchards, and even the corn-fields are hedged round 
 with apple trees. In the middle of every field is an elm or a 
 chestnut, which has a very pleasing and animating effect. 
 
 123. BEAUVAIS is a city and capital of the department of 
 Oise, situated on the Thesin, 44 miles E. of Rouen and 
 
 40 N. of Paris. It was formerly the capital of the province of 
 Beauvaisis, and the see of a bishop, who was one of the twelve 
 peers of France. The cathedral is much admired for its choir 
 and fine architecture ; besides this there are six collegiate, and 
 three parish churches, among which that of St. Stephen is re- 
 markable for its curious windows Beauvais was besieged by 
 the English, in the year 1443, but without success ; and by 
 the Duke of Burgundy, in 1472, to as little purpose, though 
 at the head of 80,000 men. In the latter siege the women of 
 Beauvais gave great proofs of their courage under the conduct 
 of Jean de Hachette, whose portrait is preserved in the town- 
 house ; and, in memory of their brave defence, the women 
 walk first in a procession, kept annually on the 10th of July. 
 
7-2 
 
 1 24. SENLIS is a town in the same department, formerly a 
 a bishop's see, and noted for its cathedral, which has one 
 
 of the highest steeples in France. It is seated on the declivity 
 of a hill, by the river Nonette, almost surrounded by a large 
 forest, is 33 miles N. N. E. of Paris, and contains about 5000 
 inhabitants. 
 
 125. Forty-five miles N.E. of Paris is COMPEIGNE, also 
 in the same department, at the conflux of the Aisne 
 
 and Oise, near a forest containing 27,000 acres. The town 
 is irregularly built; the principal commerce consists in corn, 
 wine, and wood ; the wine is much esteemed, and the popu- 
 lation is estimated at 7000. But the most interesting ob- 
 ject at Compeigne is its palace, which is a handsome build- 
 ing, superbly furnished for the reception of Marie Louise. 
 Here it was that she first met Buonaparte, and nine days after 
 their marriage they returned to it and passed a month. The 
 palace of Compeigne suffered much in the counter-revolution, 
 since it was defended by twenty pieces of cannon and in con- 
 sequence was attacked. One cannon ball entered into the 
 chamber of Marie Louise, struck off part of the foot from one 
 of the fine gilt figures which supported the drapery of the bed, 
 and lodged in the arm of a large velvet chair. The library was 
 much damaged as several balls entered, and scarcely a room 
 escaped, yet the furniture suffered less than might have been ex- 
 pected : several very fine pier glases were broken to atoms, yet 
 not one person either in the town or palace was killed or wounded, 
 but about 100 of the military fell on the outside of Compeigne. 
 Louis XVSXL and the Duchess d'Angouleme rested here several 
 days on their way to Paris. The Duchess slept in a room 
 which was formerly Marie Antoinette's, and a very elegant 
 cabinet belonging to that unfortunate queen was placed in this 
 apartment. Napoleon was building a gallery at this palace ; it 
 is in an unfinished state : the best of the paintings and most of 
 the noble tapestry were removed to Paris on the approach of the 
 
 klies. The Maid of Orleans was taken prisoner here in 
 
 1430. 
 
 126. Continuing our route towards the eastern frontier, we 
 ' reach S01SSONS, a city in the department of the Aisne, 
 
 situated in a fertile valley, on the Aisne, 30 miles W. of Rheims, 
 and 60 N. E. of Paris. It was formerly a bishop's see, the ca- 
 pital of the kingdom of Soissonnois, an earldom and a generality. 
 The cathedral has one of the largest chapters in the empire, and 
 
the bishops had the privilege, in the absence of the archbishop 
 of Rheims, of crowning the kings, as was the case of St. Louis, 
 Philip the Bad and Louis X IV. This town was considerable in the 
 time of Julius Caesar, and was then called Noviodunum. It after- 
 wards took the name of Suessiones, from the people, and remained 
 among the last subject to the Romans. At the death of Clovis 
 I. his son Clothaire made it his residence. In the year 922, 
 a battle was fought here, between Charles the Simple king of 
 France, and Robert duke of France ; in which the latter lost 
 his life, though his party, under his son and the count of Veiw 
 mandois, obtained the victory. The environs are beautiful, 
 but the streets are narrow, and the houses ill built. It contains 
 about 12,000 inhabitants. Soissons was taken and retaken se- 
 veral times by the allied and French armies, in 1814, when the 
 town sustained considerable injury. 
 
 127. Before we proceed to St Quentin, let us stop at LAON, 
 a city and capital of the department of the Aisne, seated 
 on a hill, 77 miles N. E. of Paris. Before the revolution it was 
 the capital of Laonnois, and the see of a bishop, who was a duke 
 and the second peer of France. It contains about 8000 inha- 
 bitants, is noted for excellent artichokes, and has a brisk trade 
 in corn and wine. In the late counter-revolution, previous to 
 the allies reaching Paris, there were some dreadful battles fought 
 here between the Prussians under Blucher and the French army, 
 in which both sides claimed the victory. 
 
 128. ST QUENTIN is a strong town in the department of the 
 Aisne, situated on a rising ground near the Somme, 21 
 miles S. of Cambray and 88 N.N. E. of Paris. In the year 1557 
 the French ^ »: re defeated by the Spaniards in this neighbourhood, 
 under Philip II. in consequence of which the town fell into the 
 hands of the latter. In memory of this he built the Escurial. 
 St. Quentin is a dull, dirty place, with a population of nearly 
 12,000. It has a considerable manufactory of lawns and cam- 
 brics. 
 
 129. MEZ1ERES is a city and capital of the department of the 
 Ardennes, 44 miles N.N.E. of Rheims, and 127 N.E. of 
 Paris. It is a strong town, situated on an island formed by the 
 river Meuse, over which it has two bridges, with a citadel; 
 This place was besieged, in the year 1521, by the troops c*f the 
 Emperor Charles V. under the command of the Count of Nassau ; 
 but the Chevalier Bayard, who defended the town, compelled 
 
74 
 
 them to raise the siege. The citadel was built by Captain St. 
 Paul, one of the chiefs of the leaguers, who called himself a 
 marshal of France, and hoped to become king of the Rethelois 
 and Mezieres, under the protection of the king of Spain. 
 
 130. ^ ^ ew wiles to the east of Mezieres, and 135 N, N.E. of 
 Paris, is SEDAN, a considerable town, in the department 
 
 of the Ardennes, seated on the river Maese. It was formerly 
 the capital of a principality. Sedan is considered as one of the 
 keys of the kingdom, and being on the frontiers was a very 
 important place, strongly fortified with a castle, different bas- 
 tions, many horn and outworks, and large and deep ditches, 
 cut out of the solid rock. The celebrated Marshal Turenne was 
 born in this castle. It has a well-furnished arsenal, a cannon 
 foundry, and a manufacture of black cloths of a superior 
 quality ; the woollen manufacture of Sedan has for a long time 
 been held, and is still held, in the greatest estimation ; insomuch 
 that many manufacturers, not only in France, but in England 
 and Holland, both of which certainly as far excel Fiance in 
 this branch as she excels them in others, have had the word 
 Sedan marked upon their cloths as a sort of passport to fame 
 and excellence. 
 
 131 . Altering our course, and turning south-west from Sedan, 
 the next place of importance we meet with is RHE1MS, 
 
 one of the most ancient and celebrated cities of all France, 
 situated on the Vesle, in a plain surrounded by hills, in the 
 department of the Marne, 78 miles E. N. E. of Paris. Before 
 the revolution, it was the see of an archbishop, who was the 
 first duke and peer of France, and and who always crowned the 
 king since the time of Clovis, who was here baptized upon his 
 conversion from paganism. The abbey of Benedictines of St. 
 Remy here was one of the noblest belonging to that order in 
 France ; and on the altar of its church, under which St. Remi- 
 gius lies buried, was kept the holy vial, or ampoule, in the shape 
 of a pear, filled with a red congealed liquor ; which, according to 
 the story, in the year 496, at the baptism of Clovis, by bishop 
 Remigius, was brought from heaven by a dove, at the prayer of 
 that saint, the crowd hindering him from being able to come to 
 the font with the usual oil ! The university was founded in the 
 years 1547 and 1549, authorised by the parliament of Paris. 
 This city carries on a considerable trade in wine and gingerbread, 
 and there are manufactures of woollen and silk stuffs. There 
 are several remains of Roman antiquities, particularly an am- 
 
75 
 
 phitheatre, a castle, a triumphal arch, and three gates of the 
 city, which to this day bear the names of so many pagan deities, 
 viz. the Sun, Mars and Ceres. The city is long and narrow, 
 and the houses low ; the cathedral, built before the year 406, 
 is a very beautiful and curious Gothic structure celebrated for 
 the delicacy and magnificence of its portal. The population is 
 estimated at 40,000. This city was also taken and retaken 
 several times by the French and allied armies, in 1814 ; and, as 
 may be supposed, greatly suffered in consequence. 
 
 132. From Rheims we proceed to CHALONS SUR MARNE, 
 a city and capital of the department of the Marne, H 
 
 miles E. of Paris. It is situated on the river Marne, contains 
 thirteen parishes and about 18,000 inhabitants, and was formerly 
 a bishop's see. There are manufactures of coarse woollen cloth 
 here. 
 
 133. A few miles to the south-east of Chalons is BAR-LE- 
 DUC, the capital of the department of the Meuse ; it is 
 
 o5 miles N.W. of Nancy, and 138 E. of Paris, and was formerly 
 the capital of the duchy of Bar. The wine of this place is 
 excellent, fully equal to Champagne. It is a considerable town, 
 divided into Upper and Lower, the separation being formed Jby 
 a castle called Bar, which is, as it were a barrier between 
 France and Lorraine ; the walls and towers of this castle were 
 demolished by Louis XIV. The river Ornain runs through the 
 lower part of the town; the whole place contains about 8000 
 inhabitants. At Domremy la Pucel/e, a village in the same 
 department, nine miles E. of Bar-le-Duc, Joan of Arc, the far- 
 famed Maid of Orleans, was born. 
 
 134. We again alter our course to notice VARENNES, where 
 Louis XVI. his queen, with the dauphin, the princess 
 
 royal, and princess Elizabeth, were stopped in their journey to 
 Montmedy, when they attempted to escape from the Thuilleries 
 in the month of June 1791 > and conducted back to Paris. It is 
 a town and seat of a tribunal, in the department of the Meuse, 
 40 miles S. of Mezieres, and 50 W. of Metz. 
 
 135. THIONV1LLE is a strong town in the department of 
 'the Moselle, 16 miles N. of Metz, and 195 N.N.E. of 
 
 Paris. This town formerly belonged to the duchy of Luxem- 
 bourg. In the years 1558 and 1643 it was taken by the 
 French, and finally ceckd to France, by the treaty of the 
 
 b2 
 
7G 
 
 Pyrenees, in the year 1650. It was once the residence of the 
 kings of Austrasia. In 1792 it was besieged by an Austrian 
 army; the commander was general Felix Wimpfen, who on 
 being summoned to surrender, replied, " You may destroy the 
 fortress, and not leave one stone upon another, but you cannot 
 burn the ramparts." It resisted during the whole campaign, 
 and held in check a force of 28,000 men, which the besieged 
 frequently harassed and distressed in several successful sallies. 
 It was at last relieved by the general retreat of the enemy ; and 
 the victorious garrison and commander received all the honours 
 and applause which their valour and perseverance merited. 
 Thionville is advantageously situated on the Moselle, over which 
 it has a bridge defended by horn-work. N 
 
 136. Tne citv of ME TZ is the capital of the department of 
 the Moselle, situated at the confluence of the Seille and 
 Moselle, 25 miles N. by W. of Nancy, and 186 E. of Paris. 
 Before the revolution this was a parliament city, and the see of 
 a bishop, who styled himself a prince of the Roman Empire, 
 and had a diocese of 613 parishes, and a revenue of 120,000 
 livres. It is divided into Old and New Town. The Old Town 
 is large, but the streets are narrow; the houses however, 
 though old fashioned, are handsome. The New Town is like- 
 wise large, and of much more beauty than the former. The 
 population is estimated at 40,000, besides the garrison and 
 the Jews. Exclusive of its fortifications, it has three citadels ; 
 besides the cathedral, which is one of the finest in Europe, and 
 contained a beautiful porphyry font, made of one piece ten feet 
 long, there were three chapters, sixteen parish churches, six 
 abbeys and a college. Metz has three gates, two to enter into 
 the city, and one to go out of it, which had a curious title, 
 " La porte d'Enfer." There are also a great number of Jews, 
 who have a synagogue in this city. The Meszin, or country 
 round Metz, produces a little wheat, and is of tolerable fertility ; 
 it was anciently a part of the kingdom of Austrasia, of which 
 Metz was for along time the capital, and the usual residence of 
 the king. In the year 1552, Metz, Verdun and Toul, after 
 being for some time under the protection of the emperor, put 
 themselves under the protection of the French ; till in 1648, at 
 the peace of Westphalia, they were absolutely transferred to 
 France. 
 
 137.' To the south of Metz is NANCY, a very important city, 
 " the capital of the department of the Meurte, near the 
 
7 7 
 
 river Meurte, and formerly capital of Lorraine ; it is 75 miles 
 W. of Strasburg, and 175 E. of Paris. This was the ancient 
 residence of the dukes of Lorraine. It is situated in a beautiful 
 and fertile plain, contains 34,009 inhabitants, and is divided 
 into Old and New Town by a canal. The first, though irregu- 
 larly built, is rich and populous, and contains the palace of the 
 ancient dukes of Lorraine ; and their tombs are in a rich saloon 
 which adjoins the church of the late Cordeliers. The New Town, 
 whose streets are perfectly straight, was already one of the finest 
 in Europe before the magnifient works with which Stanislaus I. 
 titular king of Poland, and duke of Lorraine, enriched it. Be- 
 fore the revolution it was a bishop's see, and, besides the ca- 
 thedral, a superb structure, contained three collegiate and three 
 parish churches, 17 convents, an university, an academy of 
 sciences, a medical college, an hospital, and a commandery of 
 Malta. This city was formerly fortified, but, by an article in 
 the treaty of Ryswick, the fortifications of the New Town were 
 destroyed. 
 
 138. White in this neighbourhood we may notice the regularly 
 fortified town of TOUL, in the same department, about 
 
 12 miles Wi of Nancy ; it was lately a bishop's see, and the 
 cathedral and episcopal palace are handsome structures ; it was 
 formerly imperial, and the bishop was a prince of the empire. 
 Toul is situated on the Moselle, over which it has a stone bridge, 
 in a plain almost surrounded by mountains. The government of 
 Toulois, of which this town was the capital, with the two bi- 
 shoprics of Metz and Verdun, in 1552, put themselves under 
 the protection of France, and, by the treaty of Westphalia, be- 
 came a part of that country. 
 
 139. LUNEVILLE is another town in this department worthy 
 of notice ; it is situated on the Meurthe, near its conflu- 
 ence with the Vesouze, in a marshy country which has been 
 drained, and is 14 miles S.E. of Nancy, in the 6th century it 
 was a county of itself, but in the 12th it was united to Lorraine. 
 Its magnificent castle, where the dukes of Lorraine formerly 
 kept their c^urt, as did afterwards king Stanislaus, is now con- 
 verted in*o barracks. The church of the late regular canons is 
 very handsome ; and here Stanislaus founded a military school, 
 a large library and an hospital. Luneville is celebrated for the 
 treaty of peace concluded in 1801 between France and Ger- 
 many. 
 
78 
 
 140. From Lunevilic we proceed in a north-easterly direction, 
 through Sarburgh, an inconsiderable town, to WISSEN- 
 BURG or WEISSEMBURG, a town in the department of 
 the Lower Rhine, situated on the Lauter, at the foot of the 
 Vosges, 30 miles N. of Strasburg. In this town was a princely 
 provostship, united to the bishopric of Spires. It was formerly 
 imperial, and was ceded to France by the peace of Ryswick. 
 The fortifications were destroyed by Louis XIV. ; but strong 
 lines of defence are fixed from hence to the Rhine, a little to 
 the £. of Lauterburg, on the S. side of the Lauter. In 1744 
 the Austrians were driven from these lines ; in 1793 they were 
 passed, and the town itself taken, by the Prussians, but soon 
 after regained by the French. 
 
 J 41 # STRASBURG is a city and capital of the department of 
 the Lower Rhine, situated at the confluence of the Ule 
 and Brusch, about a mile from the left bank of the Rhiae, 250 
 miles E. of Paris, and 395 W. of Vienna. Before the revolu- 
 tion it was the capital of the circle of the Upper Rhine and of 
 Alsace, the see of a bishop, who was a prince of the empire, 
 the residence of a governor, an intendant, king's lieutenant, &c. 
 The name of Strasburg it received about the sixth century, 
 which signifies the town of the street, because it was situated 
 ©n the high road from France to Germany. It is very extensive, 
 and is so well strengthened with a citadel, and other fortifica- 
 tions, by Vauban, the outworks of which reach almost to the 
 Rhine, as to be considered one of the strongest places in Europe. 
 The principal structures are built of a red stone dug from the 
 quarries along the Rhine. It has six gates, 200 streets, but 
 mostly very narrow, 4000 houses, of more strength than beau- 
 ty, and about 60,000 inhabitants. There are eight bridges 
 across the llle, and one of wood over the Rhine, 3,900 feet in 
 length, which, in the middle, is supported by an island, on 
 which is a strong castle. A canal is made from the Brusch to 
 the Rhine, by means of which the country round may be laid 
 under water to a great extent. The cathedral is a beautiful 
 Gothic structure, the pyramidal steeple of which is a great cu- 
 riosity, and is 574 feet high, and ascended by 654 steps ; it is 
 wrought with a delicacy which strikes the eye with astonish- 
 ment, because joined to solidity. The clock also of this cathedral 
 is an admirable piece of mechanism, constructed on the plan of 
 Dasypodius, a celebrated mathematician ; besides the hours of 
 the day, and days of the week, it describes very correctly the 
 motions of the constellations, the revolutions of the sun and 
 
79 
 
 moon, with their eclipses, &c. Strasburg has an university 
 governed by 20 professors who are Lutherans, and another 
 of Roman Catholics. The military hospital is a handsome 
 building", and the city infirmary will receive 800 patients of 
 both sexes ; besides which there are two houses for orphans, 
 a foundling hospital, another for venereal complaints, a laza- 
 retto for epidemical diseases, a house of charity for men- 
 dicants, an anatomical hall and cabinet, a botanic garden, a 
 public library, a military school, &c. From its situation Stras- 
 burg is a place of considerable commerce ; it has also manufac- 
 tures of tobacco, china, steel, lace, carpets, cloth, leather, &c. 
 The Lutherans have seven churches; in one of which, in 1777, 
 a most beautiful mausoleum of white marble was erected to the 
 memory of the great Marshal Saxe, Strasburg was formerly 
 imperial, but in 1682 it was taken by Louis XIV. and yielded 
 to him by the peace of Ryswick ; he, however, granted to the 
 inhabitants all their privileges and immunities; one of which 
 was, that they were to pay nothing to the king, but all the im- 
 posts were to be expended in the support of the city. Before 
 its union with France the Lutherans only exercised public em- 
 ployments ; after that the Catholics were admitted to a share. 
 The revenues are said to amount annually to a million of livres. 
 The chapter of the cathedral was founded in 1019, to be com- 
 posed of 24 nobles of the rank of counts. 
 
 142. COLMAR is the next place we come tb, a city and ca- 
 pital of the department of the Upper Rhine, 28 miles N. 
 
 of Basle, and 35 S. of Strasburg. It is situated on the two 
 small rivers Fecht and Lauch, surrounded by a wall flanked with 
 towers, and contains about 15,000 inhabitants. 
 
 143. ^ ur route next directs us through several small towns, 
 as Altkirk, St. Hypolite, Ornans, Salins and Poligny, to 
 
 LONS, the first we meet with of sufficient importance for insertion, 
 as the capital of the department of Jura; it is seated on the 
 river Sol van, 50 miles S. S.VV. of Besancon, and was formerly 
 celebrated for its salt-works, which are now discontinued, and 
 had a beautiful abbey of noble Bernardines. 
 
 1 44. ST. CLAUDE is a town in the department of Jura, situ- 
 ated, between three high mountains, on the Lison, at the 
 
 foot of a mountain, 17 miles N.W. of Geneva. From Mont 
 St. Claude there are delightful prospects of Switzerland, &c. 
 Before the revolution it was the see of a bishop, and contained 
 
so 
 
 a rich abbey, which was secularised in t&e year 1742. The ca- 
 thedral is extremely elegaut ; and there are many public foun- 
 tains with large basins. 
 
 145. From St. Claude we continue our route to VIENNE, 
 a city in the department of the Isere, 17 miles S. of 
 Lyons, and 43 N.W. of Grenoble. A Roman colony was esta- 
 blished here. In the fifth century it was taken by the Bur- 
 gundians, and the kings uttfde it their place of residence; 
 in the ninth century it was Hie capital of the kingdom of 
 Provence; it was afterwards erected into an archbishopric, 
 and became the capital of the province of Viennois, in which 
 state it remained till the revolution. It is very pleasantly situated 
 on the Gere and Rhone, over the latter of which was a stone 
 bridge, built in 1265, but now destroyed. The Gere is a beau- 
 tiful stream, occasionally very thickly wooded, and passing in a 
 canal which, as seen from the road, has any appearance but that 
 of a level. The smaller rivers in France, like the by-lanes, are 
 infinitely more beautiful than the larger; the water, running 
 over a bed of gravel, is limpid and transparent to a great de- 
 gree ; and the grounds through which it passes, being left in 
 their natural rudeness, have a character of wildness, romance, 
 and picturesque, which is not to be found in the greater navi- 
 gable streams. The Gere is animated by many flour and paper 
 mills delightfully situated. The road from Lyons to this place 
 is bordered by hedges, in which are flowering shrubs that per- 
 fumed the air very delightfully ; it is not uncommon to find even 
 orange-trees in the open fields. There are many fields planted 
 with mulberry- trees, which appear to flourish best where no- 
 thing else would grow, on stony and gravelly soils ; this indeed 
 seems to be the common excellence of the mulberry and the vine, 
 that they may both be cultivated on lands which would other- 
 wise be barren. Vienne is surrounded by hills, and has a toler- 
 able trade in wines, silk and sword-blades. There are some 
 hardware manufactories, where the steel is said to be well tem- 
 pered, and the sword-blades are in great repute. The cathedral 
 is a handsome Gothic structure. In 1311 a general council was 
 held here, at which Clement "V . presided, and in which the sup- 
 pression of the Knights Templars was determined. The town 
 is of great antiquity, and bears all the appearance pf it; the 
 streets are irregular, the houses dark ; one room in almost every 
 house is very large, and all the others most inconveniently small. 
 Provisions are in great plenty and very cheap, as is every thing 
 else, with the exception of fuel. Near Vienne, on the banks of 
 
r 
 
A Smiff Merchant 
 
81 
 
 the Rhone, are produced the excellent wines of Cote Rotie and 
 the famous Hermitage wines. 
 
 1 46. At ANNONAY, a town on the opposite side of the Rhone, 
 12 miles from Vienne, the two brothers, Montgolfiers, 
 paper-makers, made the discovery of air-balloons in 1782* 
 They floated them with rarefied air, obtained by means of a fire 
 suspended beneath them ; and balloons of this kind are still 
 called Montgolfiers, in honour of the inventors, and to distinguish 
 them from those that are filled with gas or inflammable air; 
 both kinds have burst, and caused fatal accidents. Annonay is 
 celebrated for its very fine paper manufacture. 
 
 \ 47 W e now change our course, turning to the north, to 
 " reach BOURG EN BRESSE, a city and capital of the 
 department of the Ain, 35 miles N. E. of Lyons, and 233 
 S. E. of Paris. It was formerly the capital of the province of 
 La Bresse, and is situated on the river Ressouze, in a country 
 rather marshy, but fertile : its principal commerce is in corn, 
 horses, cattle, and white leather The population is estimated 
 at about 5000. In the neighbourhood is a magnificent church 
 and monastery of the Augustins. 
 
 148. MACON is a city and capital of the department of the 
 Saone and Loire, situated on a declivity near the Saone, 
 
 35 miles N. of Lyons, and 188 S.E. of Paris. Before the revo- 
 lution it was the capital of a small country called Ma^onnois, 
 which was formerly a county, and the see of a bishop. It oon- 
 tained four churches, a cominandery of Malta, seven convents, 
 a college, and an hospital ; and has a considerable trade. It is 
 built in the form of a bow, to which the river is the cord, and 
 the bridge the arrow. The wine of this neighbourhood is much 
 esteemed. Macron has been the scene of some monkish imposi- 
 tions on the credulity of the people ; one especially, of the pre- 
 tended supernatural possession of a nun, to which even the 
 great Robert Boyle was inclined to give some credit. The Be* 
 nedictines of the very spacious and magnificent abbey of Ciuny 9 
 near Mac/m, have dealt more largely in these sorts of miracles 
 than perhaps any other miracle-mongers in the Romish ca- 
 lendar. 
 
 149. Taking a north-westerly direction, we continue our route 
 to NEVERS, a city and capital of the department of 
 
 the Nievre, 30 miles N. of Moulins, and 145 S. by E. of Paris. 
 
82 
 
 It is situated on the Loire, where it is joined by the Nievre, 
 over which is a handsome stone bridge ; it was formerly 
 the capital of the Nivernois, and before the revolution was a 
 bishop's see, the seat of an election, a marechauss^e, and salt- 
 office. It contained, besides the cathedral, 1 1 parish churches, 
 and several religious houses. The principal manufactures are, 
 china, glass, and works of enamel. The population is estimated 
 at about 8000. Nevers is a pleasant, though an old-looking 
 town, and very agreeably situated on the declivities of a hill, 
 at the bottom of which flows the Loire. On the summit of the 
 hill is what remains of the ducal palace, in which John Casimir, 
 king of Poland, died in 1672; it has suffered much from time, 
 but enough still remains to bear testimony to its original magni- 
 ficence. In some of the apartments the tapestry, though nearly 
 three centuries old, still retains in a great degree the brilliancy 
 of its colours ; the figures are monstrous, but the general effect 
 is magnificent. The cathedral of Nevers is one of the most an- 
 cient in France. About one hundred years since, in digging 
 a vault, a body was discovered enveloped in a long robe ; some 
 very old coins were found in the coffin, and the habit in which 
 the body was wrapped was of tke most ancient fashion : ac- 
 cording to antiquaries, this was the body of one of the ancient 
 dukes of Nevers. Nothing can be more picturesque than the 
 country between Nevers and Moulins. Natural beauty and the 
 life and activity of cultivation unite to render it the most com- 
 plete succession of landscape in France. Though England has 
 many delightful villages and rustic greens, France is greatly 
 superior in rural scenery. 
 
 The climate of this part of France is delightful, the soil won- 
 derfully fertile, the productions of the earth abundant, and the 
 health of the inhabitants corresponds with the excellence of the 
 climate. The most beautiful shrubs, those that in other places 
 are only to be found in hot-houses, are common in the woods 
 and hedges ; indeed the departments of the Nievre, Allier, Cher, 
 Indre, and those more to the west, which include the provinces 
 of Nivernois, Bourbonnois, Touraine, &c. have been termed 
 the garden and granary of France. Land, provisions, houses, 
 and all the requisites and comforts of life, are surprisingly cheap ; 
 the people, in unison with their delightful country, are cheerful, 
 universally polished in their manners, and naturally gay, bene- 
 volent and obliging. 
 
 { 50. F rom Nevers we turn to the east to AUTUN, a city in 
 the department of the Saone and Loire, celebrated for its 
 
83 
 
 vestiges of Roman magnificence. It is 45 miles from Nevers, 
 is situated near the river Arroux, at the foot of three mountains, 
 from whence issue six springs that well supply the town with 
 water ; was formerly the capital of Autunois, and see of a bishop 
 whose diocese extended over upwards of 600 parishes, and, be- 
 sides the cathedral, contained eight parish churches and several 
 religious houses. The cathedral, college and seminary are wor- 
 thy of notice. Autun was made a Roman colony by Augustus, 
 and called after him August odunum, and still contains a great 
 number of Roman antiquities, particularly the temple of Janus 
 and Cybele. It has manufactories of tapestry, thread, carpets, 
 coverlets, and delft ware. 
 
 ] 51 . Before we go to Dijon let us notice CHALONS SUR 
 SAONE, a city in the department of the Saone and Loire, 
 38 miles S. of Dijon, and G6 N. of Lyons. Before the revolu- 
 tion this was a bishop's see. It is situated on the Saone, sur- 
 rounded with walls, and defended by a citadel. Here are various 
 indications of Roman magnificence, particularly the ruins of an 
 amphitheatre. The city contains the Old Town, the New Town, 
 and the suburb of St. Lawrence. In the first is the court of 
 justice and the cathedral. Corn, iron, wine and wool are the 
 chief articles of commerce. 
 
 152. DIJON is a large city and capital of the department of 
 ' the Cote d'Or, 48 miles W. of Besancon, and 148 S. E. 
 
 of Paris. It was formerly the capital of Burgundy and Dijon- 
 nois, a bishop's see, and a parliament eity. It is situated in a 
 fertile and charming plain, bounded by a ridge of mountains, 
 the sides of which are covered with vines, of which excellent 
 wine is made. It has four gates, and three fauxbourgs, and 
 is nearly three miles in circumference ; the walls are handsome, 
 but the fortifications are old ; the castle was built by Louis XI. 
 It also contains seven parishes, four abbeys, eleven convents, a 
 college, an hospital, &c. and 25,000 inhabitants. This is a very 
 important city"; the streets are broad, well paved and straight, 
 and the squares and public structures elegant. 
 
 153. CHATILLON SUR SEINE is a town in the same de- 
 partment, 38 miles N. N.W. of Dijon. The town is large, 
 
 though only one parish, and is built on both sides of the Seine ; 
 there are some iron works in the neighbourhood. 
 
 154. We now turn to the east to LANGRES, a city in the 
 department of the Upper Marne, 35 mites N. N. E, of 
 
84 
 
 Dijon, 20 S. of Chaumont, and 140 S. E of Paris. This place 
 is very ancient, and, in the time of Julius Csesar, was the capital 
 of the Lingones. In the irrHption of Attila it was taken and 
 burned ; and, after being rebuilt, underwent the same fate, in 
 the year 407, from the Vandals. It was very early erected into 
 a bishopric; and, from the reign of Philip Augustus to the re- 
 volution, the prelates were dukes and peers of France. It is 
 situated on a mountain, close to the Marne ; cutlery is the chief 
 article of trade. The cathedral is a large, gloomy, Gothic 
 building, filled with ancient tombs ; besides this there are some 
 other handsome churches, and many religious houses. The walls 
 or ramparts of the city are covered with a roof, under which was 
 the promenade in wet weather ; the outer side was invested with 
 a parapet, rising up to the roof, through which the country 
 could be seen by means of small openings or embrasures. 
 
 155. * n our roa( * t0 B esan 9 on we notice GRAY, a town in the 
 department of the Upper Saone, 28 miles N. E. of Dijon. 
 
 It is situated on the Saone, which is navigable for boats to Lyons, 
 whither the inhabitants send grain and iron, the chief articles of 
 their commerce. The fortifications have been destroyed. 
 
 156. BESANCON is a fortified city and capital of the depart- 
 " ment of the Doubs, 86 miles S.W. of Colmar, and 208 
 
 S. E. of Paris. Before the revolution this was the capital of 
 Franche Comte, the see of an archbishop, and a parliament city. 
 Besancon is situated in a bottom, between mountains, on the 
 Doubs, whose waters almost surround and divide it into Upper 
 and Lower Town, joined by a handsome bridge ; it has six gates, 
 three to the Upper, and three to the Lower town, and is strong 
 both by nature and art, being defended by a wall flanked with 
 eight towers like bastions ; the citadel is a long square, built 
 *on a sharp rock. Under the Romans it was one of the most 
 magnificent places they had in Gaul, and the triumphal arch of 
 Aurelian and many remains of their superb buildings are yet 
 visible ; after the death of Julian it was nearly destroyed by the 
 Germans, and a second time by Attila. It afterwards became an 
 imperial city, till the time of Louis XIV., who in the year 1674 
 made himself master of it, and united it to France. The uni- 
 versity is an ancient and celebrated foundation ; and in 1752 
 a literary and military institution was formed. Besancon con- 
 tains eight parishes, and about 20,000 inhabitants. 
 
 157»'W e muS | nex t notice VESOUL, capital of the depart- 
 * ment of the Upper Saone, 25 miles N. of Besancon. It 
 
85 
 
 is situated at the foot of a mountain, near the river Durgeon ; 
 and in its vicinity is a medicinal spring. 
 
 l08.^ ne nex * p' ar - e °f no * e we meet in this direction is 
 EPINAL, a city and capital of the department of the 
 Vosges, 35 miles S.E. of Nancy. It is situated on the Moselle, 
 and noted for its paper-mills ; it formerly belonged to the duchy 
 of Lorrain, but in the reign of Louis XIV. it was taken by Mar- 
 shal Crequi, and soon after dismantled. 
 
 159. Our route next takes us to CIIAUMONT, a city and 
 capital of the department of the Upper Marne, 130 miles 
 
 E. S. E. of Paris. It is situated on a mountain, near the river 
 Marne ; and has a manufactory of coarse woollen cloth, and a 
 considerable trade in deer and goat skins. 
 
 160. ^ e con ti niie in the same, direction through Bar-sur-Aube, 
 a small town, to TROYES, a city and capital of the de- 
 partment of the Aube, 85 miles S. E. of Paris. It is situated 
 on the Seine, and before the revolution was the capital of 
 Champagne, and the see of a bishop. Among the objects of 
 cariosity are the cathedral, the public library of the late Cor- 
 deliers, and the castle in which the ancient counts of Cham- 
 pagne resided. It contained fourteen churches, four abbeys, 
 ten convents, a college and an hospital, and is surrounded by 
 strong walls. As the stone in the neighbourhood is too teuder 
 to be employed in building, almost all the houses are of wood. 
 The inhabitants carry on a considerable trade in linen,, flax, 
 hemp, cotton, fustians, chandlery, wine, &c. The environs pro- 
 duce grain, fruit and legumes in abundance. Troyes was cap- 
 tured and recaptured several times by the allied and French 
 armies in 1814. 
 
 161. From Troyes we turn to the south, to AUXERRE, a 
 city and capital of the department of the Yonne, situated 
 
 on the side of a hill, near the Yonne, 90 miles S. S.E. of Paris. 
 Before the revolution it was the see of a bishop, and capital of 
 Auxerrois It was anciently governed by its own counts. The 
 cathedral has nothing remarkable ; but the episcopal palace is 
 considered as one of the most beautiful in France. It contains 
 twelve parishes, many fountains and squares, several religious 
 houses, two hospitals, &c. and a population of about 16,000. In 
 the year 1358 it was taken by the English, but in 1360 it was 
 retaken by the French. 
 
86 
 
 162. Before we go to Bourges we shall take in MONTARGIS* 
 a town in the department of the Loiret, seated near a fine 
 forest, and connected to the Seine by a navigable canal, 60 miles 
 S. of Paris. It is celebrated for mustard and cutlery, and had 
 formerly a very fine castle. This town was blockaded by the 
 English in 1418, and reduced to great extremity, till relieved by 
 the Bastard of Orleans. 
 
 1(33. BOURGES is a city and capital of the department of the 
 Cher, situated in a very open plain, at the conflux of the 
 Auron and Eure, 25 miles VV. of Nevers, and 125 S. of Paris. 
 Before the revolution this was the see of an archbishop, and a 
 generality, with an university founded or re-established by 
 Louis XI. the Nero of France, who was born here, and endowed 
 the town with some considerable privileges. The cathedral church 
 is a beautiful piece of Gothic architecture, and of prodigious di- 
 mensions, far exceeding any in England ; it contains a great 
 quantity of painted glass. The principal manufactures are cloth, 
 woollen stuffs, and stockings, great quantities of which are dis- 
 posed of at the annual fairs. Bourges contains sixteen parish 
 churches, and above 20,000 inhabitants. It stands 'nearly in 
 the centre of the kingdom. In extent it is one of the greatest 
 cities in France. Charles VII. usually held his court here, and 
 was denominated by the English " Le petit Roi de Bourges." 
 
 164. * n tne same department, 10 miles N.W. of Bourges, is 
 ' the ancient town of MEHUN-SUR-YEURE, situated on 
 the Yeure, and noted for the magnificent remains of its castle. 
 This is rendered famous in history by the death of Charles VII. 
 who constructed it, and who died there in 1401, by a voluntary 
 abstinence from food, caused by the apprehension of being poi- 
 soned by his own son, Louis XI. The situation of the casde is 
 not favoured by nature, and corresponds ill with the grandeur of 
 the structure. It stands in a wide extended plain, sheltered by 
 deep woods, and at its foot flows the little river Yeure, which, 
 dividing at the spot into several streams, forms a number of 
 marshy islands, covered with willows. Though the castle of 
 Mehun has been burnt by lightning, as well as greatly injured 
 by time and the depredations of the neighbouring peasants, yet 
 its ruins are even now inexpressibly august and beautiful. The 
 great tower is nearly perfect; and three of the apartments, 
 which appear to have been rooms of state, might almost be in- 
 habited at present. The chamber where they say the unhappy 
 king expired is in one of the smaller towers a the entrance into 
 
87 
 
 which is obstructed by the stones which have fallen from above. 
 The whole edifice is composed of a stone nearly equal to marble 
 in whiteness and durability, and is surrounded by a deep ditch ; 
 in the centre stands the chapel, the workmanship and delicacy 
 of which are astonishing. The castle has been deemed, by a 
 very competent judge, to be one of the finest monuments now 
 existing in Europe of the taste and style of architecture in the 
 fifteenth century, when the arts began slowly to revive from 
 their slumber of so many ages. 
 
 165. ^ ur r0llte next ^ads us to MOUL1NS, a city and capital 
 of the department of the Allier, 30 miles S. of Nevers, 
 and 130 S.S.E. of Paris. Formerly it was the capital of 
 Bourbonnois, and a generality, and is esteemed one of the 
 pleasantest towns in France. It is indeed beautifully situated 
 in the midst of a rising and variegated country, with meadows, 
 corn-fields, hills and woods ; to which may be added the river 
 Allier, a stream so recluse and handsome, and so bordered with 
 beautiful grounds, as to give the idea of a park : over this river 
 there is a noble bridge, and a wharf, with immense preparation 
 of warehouses, but no goods, no merchandize of any kind. How 
 unlike a wharf on an English canal ! The grounds about the town 
 appear as if laid out for the pleasure of the inhabitants ; the 
 meadows and corn-fields are intersected by paths in every direc- 
 tion, and fruit-trees are in great number, and to all appearance 
 are common property. There is here no accumulation of pro- 
 perty, no stock of reserve. The people seem to live from hand 
 to mouth on the articles which they find nearest them : it is the 
 same with regard to clothing, and all other articles of common 
 consumption. Society certainly exists here in a much simpler 
 state than in England. 
 
 The interior of the town does not merit description; the 
 streets are narrow, the houses dark and built in the worst pos- 
 sible style. The dukes of Bourbon selected this as a place 
 of residence during the season of the chase, and having built 
 a castle in the neighbourhood, their suite and attendants shortly 
 founded a town. This was the usual origin of most of the 
 provincial towns in Europe; they followed the castle or chateau 
 of the baron. Moulins has a very agreeable, gay and pictu- 
 resque appearance as seen from the meadows in the vicinity ; 
 the river and the beautiful scenery around it fully compensate 
 for its disagreeable interior. It contains 16,000 inhabitants, 
 and has manufactories of stone-ware, glass and cutlery, which 
 last is greatly esteemed. Provisions of all sorts are very cheap 
 and plentiful. 
 
88 
 
 166. In our way to Blois we notice only CHATEAUROUX, 
 the capital of the department of the Indre, 148 miles 
 S. S. W. of Paris. It is situated in a fertile country on the 
 Indre, has a large woollen manufacture, and contains four pa- 
 rishes, and about 6000 inhabitants. It derives its name from 
 a very large castle built here by Raoul, whence the city was 
 called Chateau-Raoul, and by corruption Chateau-Roux. 
 
 167 BLOIS is a city and capital of the department of the 
 'Loir and Cher, 28 miles S.W. of Orleans, 37 N. E. of 
 Tours, and 100 S.W. of Paris. Before the revolution this was 
 a bishop's see, the seat of a lieutenant- general, a grand baili- 
 wick, and capital of the Blaisois; once the abode of the kings 
 of France. Wine and brandy constitute the chief articles of 
 commerce ; the principal manufactures are serge and ticken ; 
 the population is about 1 5,000, The situation of Blois is as 
 agreeable as that of all the other principal towns on the Loire ; 
 the main part of it is built upon a hill, which descends by a 
 gentle declivity to the Loire ; the remaining part is a suburb on 
 the opposite side of the river. From the hill on which the town 
 stands is a beautiful view of a rich and lovely country ; and 
 there is certainly not a town in France or in Europe, with the 
 exception of Tours and Toulouse, which can command such a 
 delightful landscape. The town does not correspond with the 
 beauty of its situation ; the streets are narrow and the houses 
 low. There are several fountains in different parts of the town, 
 supplied by an aqueduct: the water rises from a deep subterra- 
 neous spring, and is conveyed in a channel cut in a rock ; this 
 channel is supposed to be of Roman construction, and from its 
 characteristic boldness, and even greatness, it most probably is 
 so. The channel of the aqueduct empties itself into a reservoir 
 adjoining the city walls, whence they are distributed in pipes 
 through all the quarters of the city. 
 
 But the boast and ornament of Blois is its Chateau or castle. 
 It is built upon a rock which overhangs the Loire, all the cas- 
 tles on this river being built with an evident purpose of con- 
 trolling and commanding the navigation. There is a variety 
 and dissimilarity in the several parts of this castle in conse- 
 quence of its being the work of several princes in different 
 ages. The eastern and southern fronts, were built by Louis 
 XII, (who was born here) about the year 1520, and are heavy, 
 dark and Gothic, with small rooms and pointed arches : the 
 northern front was the work of Francis E and is a curious 
 specimen of the Gothic architecture in its progress, perhaps in 
 
89 
 
 its very act of transit, into the Greek and Roman orders ; and 
 the western side, which was built by Gaston duke of Orleans, 
 but not completed, bears the character of the magnificent mind 
 and bold genius of that great prince. 
 
 The chamber in which the celebrated duke of Guise was assas- 
 sinated, and the spot on which he fell, are still pointed out to the 
 traveller. There is a small chamber, or rather antechamber, which 
 leads to a larger apartment ; the duke had passed through the 
 door of this antechamber, and was opening the farther door which 
 leads into the larger apartment, when he was assassinated by 
 order of Henry til. His body was immediately dragged into the 
 larger apartment, and the king came to view it. " How great a 
 man was that ! M said he, pointing to the lifeless body. The Car- 
 dinal of Guise, being seized on the same day in which his brother 
 was murdered, was imprisoned in this castle, and, after passing 
 a night in the dungeons, was executed on the day following. 
 The dungeons are the most horrible holes which it is possible to 
 conceive : two doors of massy iron open into a gloomy vaulted 
 room, itself a dreadful dungeon, and in the centre of the floor 
 is a round hole of the size and shape of those on the paved foot- 
 paths in I ondon for shooting coals into the cellars, and under 
 it are three ranges 01 dungeons one beneath the other. The 
 Salle des Etats, so called because the States General were there 
 assembled by Henry III. is a large and lofty room; but the 
 fire-place is what chiefly attracts attention, where the bodies of 
 the Guises were reduced to ashes on the day following their 
 murder. The w r estern front of the castle is in every respect 
 worthy of Gaston, and of the architect employed by him the 
 illustrious Mansard. The duke, in consequence of his not 
 being able to complete his design of this part, exclaimed, as he 
 lay expiring*, " Doinus mea, domus desolationis in eternum ! * 
 
 1 68. * n a cross-road between this place and Orleans is the magni- 
 ficent castle of CH AMBORD, than the situation of which 
 nothing can be more obscure and melancholy ; it is literally buried 
 in woods, and the building, immense as it is, is not vi ible till 
 you are within some hundred yards of it. The style oi building 
 is strictly Gothic, and the architecture excellent. It was built by 
 Francis I. who is said to have employed 1800 workmen for twelve 
 years, and even then it was left unfinished. It is moated and 
 Walled round, and has every appendage of the Gothic castle, in- 
 numerable towers, turrets, drawbridges and portals. If 
 seated upon a hill it would be impossible to conceive a finer 
 object. The apartments are large and spacious, but their 
 
90 
 
 effect is destroyed by cross-beams from one side of the room to 
 the other. The great Marshal Saxe lived and died in this cha- 
 teau ; the room in which he breathed his last is still shown 
 with veneration He lived here in great state, and had a regi- 
 ment of 1500 horse, whose barracks are in the immediate 
 vicinity of the castle. The spiral staircase is a curious con- 
 trivance ; it is so managed as to contain two distinct staircases 
 in one, so that people may go up and down at the same time, 
 without seeing each other. The apartments are said to exceed 
 1200; those which Marshal Saxe occupied are in very good 
 taste, the ceilings are arched, and the proportions are excellent. 
 This castle was the favourite residence of Francis I. and it was 
 here that he so magnificently received and entertained the Em- 
 peror Charles V. It has been deserted since the death of Louis 
 XIV. who used occasionally to hunt in its forests, but never 
 made it a permanent residence. 
 
 \QQ m Thirty miles S.W. of Blois, and 12 E. of Tours, is the 
 town of AM BOISE, in the department of the Indre and 
 Loire, delightfully situated near the confluence of the Loire and 
 Masset. The town itself is mean and ill built, consisting of 
 two streets and a long stone bridge, but has been rendered 
 famous in history by the conspiracy of the Protestants in 1560, 
 (which opened the fatal wars of religion in France,) and by its 
 castle. Before the revolution the town was very singularly di- 
 vided into two parishes; all gentlemen, all military officers, all 
 landed proprietors who possessed honorary fiefs, and all strangers 
 who were temporary residents, were considered as belonging to 
 one parish, and the people and the bourgeois were attached to 
 the other. The revolution has annihilated % these absurd distinc- 
 tions, and every one now belongs to the parish in which he re- 
 sides or has property. 
 
 The castle is built upon a lofty and craggy rock, and over- 
 hangs the Loire which flows at the bottom ; the side on the 
 Loire is perpendicular and of great height so as to render it 
 almost inaccessible. This vast structure was not all the work 
 of one time or of one author ; the present castle was built upon 
 the ruins of one which was destroyed by the Normans in 882, 
 but having gone into decay was repaired and enlarged by Fran- 
 cis I. and Charles VIII. The latter prince was born and died 
 in this castle, and during the whole of his reign it was the 
 constant summer residence of the court. The most remarkable 
 part of the structure is what is called the oratory of Louis the 
 wicked ; it is at a great depth beneath the foundation of the 
 
m 
 
 castle, and the descent to it is by a spiral staircase. It is liter- 
 ally nothing" more than a dungeon, on a platform, in which is a 
 prostrate statue representing the dead body of our Lord as taken 
 from the cross, covered with streaks of blood, and the skin in 
 welts as if fresh from the scourge. According to the tradition 
 of the neighbourhood this was the daily scene of the private 
 devotions of Louis XL and the character of the place, and of 
 the images around, have certainly some symphony with the 
 known disposition of that monarch. No one even in the revo- 
 lution, fcas disturbed these relics ; it is still exhibited as the 
 tyrant's dungeon, and no one can enter or leave it without feel- 
 ing a renewed idea of the character of that execrable monster, 
 whom all agree in mentioning with detestation. Only two 
 detached parts of the ancient castle now remain. From the hill 
 behind the castle is seen another of those enchanting landscapes 
 which these parts of France continually exhibit, where the eye 
 is delighted with a profusion of natural beauties, which can- 
 not well be described but must be seen to be enjoyed. 
 
 The well-known conspiracy of Amboise having originated in 
 this city, the walls and dungeons of the castle still retain some 
 relics of the ferocious cruelties exercised by the triumphant party 
 of the Guises ; spikes, nails and short iron gibbets and chains 
 are still shewn on the walls, on which were suspended the bodies 
 of the prisoners who fell into their hands. Religious fury has 
 no limits, and a true enthusiast comforts himself that he tortures 
 the body to save the soul : the bloodiest and most cruel and de- 
 structive wars that were ever waged, were those falsely called 
 religious. Alas, how different is the spirit of war, even the 
 most just and necessary war, from the spirit of Christianity! 
 Iniquissimam pacem justissimo bcllo antefero, said Cicero, and 
 every pious and good man must agree with him. 
 
 170. ^ e proceed to ORLEANS, a city and capital of the de-< 
 partment of the Loiret, situated on the Loire, C8 miles 
 S.W. of Paris. Before the revolution this was a bishop's see, 
 a parliament city, and the capital of Orleannois. It is now con- 
 sidered as one of the largest and most agreeable cities in France ; 
 it has six principal gates, and twenty-two parishes, with a popu- 
 lation of about 35,000, whose chief trade is in raw sugar to a 
 great extent, stockings, sheep-skins, brandy, corn and wine. 
 Orleans has a very near resemblance to Tours, though the latter 
 is certainly better built and preferable in situation. Orleans, 
 however, is situated very beautifully; the country is uneven and 
 diversified, and the fields have the air of pleasure-grounds, ex* 
 
92 
 
 sept in the luxuriant wildness of the hedges, and the frequent 
 intermixture of orchard and fruit-trees: as seen from the road, 
 it has an extremely picturesque aspect. 
 
 The interior of the town does not at all correspond with the 
 beauty of its situation; some of the streets are narrow, the 
 houses old and scandalously built. The principal street is ter- 
 minated by a noble bridge, of nine arches, the centre 105 feet 
 wide, which has been repaired from the ruinous state in which 
 it was left by the Chouans. The Grand Place is spacious, and 
 has an air of magnificence. The cathedral is worth peculiar 
 attention : the chapels surrounding the altar are wainscoted with 
 oak, and the pannels are deeply cut into representations of our 
 Saviour on the cross ; and the figure of St. John, and others of 
 the apostles, are very masterly : they are the work of Baptiste 
 Tubi, an Italian sculptor who sought refuge in France. The 
 two towers built at the western extremity by Louis XV. are 
 generally known and celebrated ; the prospect from their summit 
 exceeds all powers of description ; the country seems one bound- 
 less garden covered with vineyards, whose richness must be seen 
 to be understood. Orleans was taken by Julius Csesar : in the 
 year 451, it was besieged by Attila, king of the Huns; and in 
 1429, by the English : but the siege was raised by the conduct 
 of the Maid of Orleans, whose history is too well known to need 
 detail. There are here several vestiges of her, aud her memory 
 is still held in veneration ; in the Hotel de Ville is an excellent 
 portrait of her in her warlike dress, and in the main street is a 
 celebrated monument of her and Claries VII. both supposed to 
 be very correct likenesses In the religious war, Orleans suf- 
 fered much; in April, 1502, it was surprised by the Prince of 
 Conde, and in February following it was besieged by the Duke 
 of Guise, who had nearly carried his point, when he was assas- 
 sinated. Several councils have been held here, the first in the 
 reign of Clovis. 
 
 171. The next citv in our route is CHARTRES, the capital of 
 the department of the Eure and Loire, 45 miles S.W. of 
 Paris. It was formerly a bishop's see, and is very pleasantly situ- 
 ated on the Eure, which divides the town into two parts, and over 
 which is a bridge, the work of the celebrated Vauban ; it contains 
 about 10,000 inhabitants. This is one cf the most ancient 
 towns in France, and bears evident marks of its antiquity ; the 
 streets are in straight lines, and the houses dark and large, 
 but full of small rooms ; according to the French historians it 
 was called Autricum by the Romans. It is surrounded by a 
 
93 
 
 wall, and has nine gates, of very ancient architecture. The ca- 
 thedral is esteemed one of the most beautiful churches in the 
 kingdom ; it is supposed to have been originally a temple of the 
 Druids, dedicated to the Virgo Paritiira ; though this antiquity 
 may be disputed, the structure is evidently of the most remote 
 ages. According to actual records it was burned by lightning 
 in 1020, and was then rebuilt upon its ancient foundations ; it 
 is the most ancient monument in France, and well deserves exa- 
 mination. There is a descent from the upper church into a 
 subterraneous one, extending under the whole space of the one 
 above it, and having corresponding walls, choir, and stalls. 
 There are two high steeples belonging to the cathedral, so 
 well finished, that there is a common saying, " If you wish to 
 have a church complete and perfect in all its parts, you must 
 take the choir of Beauvais, the nave of Amiens, the portal of 
 Rheims, the towers of Paris, and the steeples of Chartres." 
 In the parish church of St. Andre there is a cave or vault well 
 worthy of mention, which contains six coffins, with the bodies in 
 them as fresh as if just dead, though they have been buried 
 nearly a hundred years. One of the men had the mark of a 
 wound under his left breast, as if made by a pointed sword or 
 pike, which was florid, red, and fresh ; this was the mayor of 
 the town, who was wounded in an affray of which he died. 
 
 J 72. Turning east from Chartres, we stop at FONTAINE- 
 BLEAU, a town in the department of the Seine and 
 Marne, about 2| miles from the Seine and 10 N. of Melun, 
 celebrated for its magnificent palace, the general autumnal resi- 
 dence of the kings of France. The forest of Fontainebleau 
 contains 26,480 acres, its figure is round, and the town and 
 chateau are in the centre. The town consists of two principal 
 streets and several smaller ones, it has a good trade, being 
 situated on the high road from Paris to Lyons, with a manufac- 
 ture of thread lace, and a population of about 3000. 
 
 Historians have not determined who laid the first foundations 
 of the Palace, whether Louis VII. or St. Louis (the IXth) ; 
 Francis I. built one part of it, as may be seen from the sala- 
 manders, the device of this prince ; Henry IV. contributed much 
 to its embellishment, as did also Louis XIV. who built a new 
 pile, and rendered the old apartments more magnificent and 
 commodious. There are 1500 rooms in it, and the royal apart- 
 ments are very large, and richly gilt; in the long gallery, 
 built by Henry IV. called La Galerie des Cerfs, are paintings 
 representing all the royal houses and most beautiful palaces in 
 
94 
 
 France, separated from each other by prodigious horns of deer 
 killed in the forest, which abounds in them, it was enriched 
 with many other beautiful paintings, bronze and marble statues, 
 &c. and a grand orangery. 
 
 Fontainebleau, says Cardinal Bentivoglio, is a vast palace, 
 worthy of a great prince; and though there are many piles 
 joined to each other at different times, without order or symme- 
 try, forming a confused mass of buildings of different architec- 
 ture, this confusion has nevertheless an air of surprising majesty 
 and grandeur. It stands in a bottom, and has nothing pleasant 
 when the country and trees are deprived of their verdure, sur- 
 rounded by a vast forest, in the midst of small hills crowned 
 with rocks, which produce nothing to support life or please the 
 eye. The g-ardens are neat and very extensive ; and, besides 
 the grand fountain, which, from the excellency of the water, 
 gave name to the place, there are a great many others to adorn 
 this charming residence. 
 
 173. T ne on ty c *ty m France that remains to be noticed, before 
 we arrive at the capital, is iMELUN, which is the eapital 
 of the department of the Seine and Marne, situated on the Seine, 
 25 miles S.E. of Paris. Before the revolution it contained one 
 collegiate, and three parish churches, two convents, and two ab- 
 beys : it carries on a trade with Paris in corn, meal, wine and 
 cheese. In the year 1419, it was besieged and taken by the 
 English, but ten years after the inhabitants drove them out and 
 submitted to Charles VII. 
 
 In the plains of Melun the Bourbon army, consisting of 
 100,000 men, was drawn up to oppose the progress of Buona- 
 parte after his escape from Elba ; and here it was that on the 
 :21st of March, 1815, he appeared in an open carriage, driving 
 down the hill from Fontainebleau with the rapidity of lightning, 
 accompanied only by Bertrand and Drouet, and was received — 
 not with a destructive shower of caunon-balls and bullets — but 
 with the most enthusiastic shouts and acclamations, and by this 
 same army was conducted in triumph to Paris, and seated once 
 more upon an imperial throne ! 
 
 It may be permitted in this place to make*an addition to the 
 historical part of the " General Description of France," p. 4. — 
 Immediately after the desperate and sanguinary battle of Water- 
 loo, on the 18th of June, 1815, Bunoaparte was a second time 
 compelled to abdicate. He endeavoured to make this abdication 
 ill favour of his son, whom he proclaimed Napoleon II. ; but it 
 was set aside, and Louis XVI 1 1, again entered Paris on the 8th 
 
95 
 
 of July. The return of Louis cannot be supposed to be very 
 acceptable to the French, considering the means by which it 
 was accomplished ; and it is a prevalent opinion that his power 
 will expire as soon as the foreign armies, which uphold it, are 
 withdrawn. 
 
 In the mean time, Buonaparte, the wonderful Buonaparte, 
 who for so many years has agitated the universe, of whom almost 
 all tongues have talked and pens have wrote, privately retired, 
 no one knew whither ; at length, on the 15th of J uly, he came out 
 from Rochfort in a flag of truce, surrendered himself to Captain 
 Maitland, of the Bellerophon, and threw himself upon the Bri- 
 tish nation for protection. In what a pre-eminently glorious 
 rx>int of view does this circumstance place the British national 
 character ! 
 
 174. PARIS, one of the noblest cities in the world, the ca- 
 pital of France, is 244 miles 8. S. E. of London, 250 
 SW. of Amsterdam, G25 W. of Vienna, and 630 N. E. of 
 Madrid. In the time of the Romans, before the birth of Christ, 
 in that part called the Island of the Palace, was a town called 
 Lutetia, or Lutetia Parisiorum, or simply Parisii, from the 
 Parisii, a people of Celtic Gaul, who, when the Romans in- 
 vaded the country, themselves set fire to it. The conquerors 
 rebuilt it, but it attained to no great eminence till the time of 
 Julian the Apostate, who built a palace in it ; it was still farther 
 enlarged by the kings of the Franks, and Clovis made it his re- 
 sidence. About 954 Hugh Capet made it the capital of his 
 kingdom and the place of his residence, in which he was fol- 
 lowed by all his successors. Philip Augustus, in the thirteenth 
 century, built a new wall round it, paved the streets and divided 
 it into three parts, the city, in the centre ; the mile, to the 
 north ; and the university, to the south. In the fifteenth cen- 
 tury it was further enlarged and arranged into sixteen quarters, 
 which Louis XIV. in 1702, increased to twenty. It is situated 
 in an, extensive plain, on the river Seine, and, including the 
 suburbs, occupies a space of fifteen miles in circumference, 
 and has about 900 streets. Before the revolution it was the see 
 of an archbishop, and contained 51 parish churches, 20 not pa- 
 rochial ; 17 collegiate churches, among which were 13 chapters; 
 40 chapels, 3 abbeys, 22 priories, and 50 convents for men, 
 ecclesiastical and secular ; 7 abbeys, 6 priories, and 53 convents, 
 for women ; 10 seminaries, 16 hospitals, an university, 6 aca- 
 demies of science, 3 academies for the instruction of young gen- 
 tlemen, 7 public libraries; 124 companies of artisans and trades- 
 
06 
 
 men ; 4 royal palaces, upwards of 500 palaces or houses inha- 
 bited by the nobility, &c. ; 16 principal squares, and more than 
 CO inferior ; 50 public markets, 60 fountains, 12 bridges, 26 
 quays, 16 gates, &c. with a population of about 800,000. The 
 city is surrounded by the Seine. 
 
 As the narrow limits to which we are confined preclude the 
 possibility of giving a description of this wonderful city, we must 
 be content with a brief sketch of some of its most interesting 
 objects. — The cathedral of Notre Dame, a Gothic structure, is 
 one of the largest in Europe, and contains 45 chapels ; there 
 are also many other fine churches. The Pont-Neuf> the most 
 celebrated of the ancient bridges, crosses the two branches of 
 the Seine, is 1020 feet long and 72 broad, and has 12 arches ; 
 it was begun in the reign of Henry III. and finished by Henry IV. 
 In the centre was an equestrian statue of Henry IV. in bronze, 
 of a colossal size, on a pedestal of white marble, with a descrip- 
 tion of some of his principal actions. The Bridge ofAusterlitz, 
 built by Buonaparte in commemoration of his victories, commu- 
 nicates from the Boulevard Bourdon to the Jardin des Plantes ; 
 the views of the river from each side are very fine, and the 
 bridge itself is exceedingly handsome, being composed entirely 
 of iron, except the piers and butments ; the surface is quite 
 fiat, and a light simple railing on each side gives a neat and 
 pretty finish ; the arches are so light, and the bolts so well fitted, 
 that it looks as if it were scarcely strong enough to support 
 the passengers. 
 
 The grand palace, called the Louvre, was begun in the reign 
 of Francis I., the front was built by Louis XIV. ; it is a quadran- 
 gular edifice, the court in the centre, forming a square of 390 
 feet. The front is one of the most beautiful monuments of 
 the reign of Louis XIV. The gallery is considered as the 
 finest piece of architecture in the world. The gallery of 
 paintings is said to be more than half a mile long; it is well 
 lighted, supported by elegant pillars at the sides, which di- 
 vide the different schools, and ornamented with looking-glasses 
 between the pillars ; the roof is beautifully painted ; it contains 
 more than 1300 invaluable productions of the French, German, 
 Dutch, Flemish, and Italian masters. This unique collection is 
 one of the most brilliant trophies of Napoleon's victories. In 
 this palace were models of upwards of 180 fortresses in France 
 and other countries, all performed with the utmost accuracy, 
 and so natural as to represent the several cities therein described, 
 with their streets, houses, squares, and churches, and likewise 
 all their works, moats, bridges, aud rivers, together with the 
 
97 
 
 adjacent country, such as consisting of plains, mountains, corn- 
 lands, meadows, gardens and woods. \\ hen any alterations are 
 made' in the fortresses, the same are scrupulously observed in 
 the models. They are now removed to the ' 4 Observatoire des 
 Arts et des Metiers ? In this palace also are five royal acade- 
 mies. 
 
 The Palais Royal was built by Cardinal Richlieu, and given 
 by him to Louis XIII. ; after whom Louis XIV. resided in it, 
 who gave it to the duke of Orleans, whose son furnished it 
 most nobly, and placed pictures in it, many of them the works 
 of Raphael, Rubens, Titian, Vandyke, &c. to the value of four 
 millions of livres ; it contains one of the academies; most of 
 the apartments are hung with red damask. During the revolu- 
 tion it was given by the duke of Orleans to the public, who 
 made its gardens a lounge of the first order. The Palais is a 
 square, with a wide handsome colonnade, under which are the 
 smartest shops in Paris, and an innumerable number of restau- 
 rateurs ; it is always crowded with people. 
 
 The Palais des Thuilleries, so called from a tile-kiln formerly 
 here, is grand, chaste and elegant, and communicates, by means 
 of a grand gallery 1362 feet long and 30 broad, with the Louvre; 
 it was begun by Catharine deMedicis, and completed by Henry IV. 
 It consists of five pavilions and four corps de logis, standing all 
 in a direct line, above 1068 feet in length, and making a very 
 grand appearance. In the pavilion adjoining the river is a 
 magnificent theatre ; in another is a grand hall, round the top 
 of which is a fine gallery, where there are several figures in ar- 
 mour placed to represent living guards : the hall is filled with 
 pictures of Buonaparte's marshals. The rooms, as you advance, 
 are still handsomer, ornamented with tapestry worked in gold, 
 and every luxury which the vanity of man's ambition can in- 
 vent ; all the ornaments consist of bees, the eagle, or the letter 
 K, to which Buonaparte was particularly partial. There is a 
 very large statue of silver, of prodigious weight, given to Napo- 
 leon by the city of Paris. The garden of the Thuilleries, in 
 front of the palace and on the banks of the Seine, is the finest 
 public walk in Paris. The palace of the " Corps Legislatif," 
 the French parliament, is very handsome, and has an excellent 
 library attached to it; in the emperors apartment there are fine 
 pictures of Marie Louise, painted when she first entered Paris, 
 and Buonaparte; with the former of which the emperor of 
 Austria, when he came to see it, was very much affected. The 
 room of sitting is one fourth of a sphere, with eight rows of seats 
 to hokl 500 deputies, and galleries to accommodate 300 spec- 
 
 E 
 
98 
 
 tators. The president's seat is in a reeess opposite the centre, 
 and raised to the level of the middle seats. Three secretaries 
 are seated on each side of the president; something lower, and 
 before him, on a level with the secretaries, is the tribune, from 
 which the deputies read their speeches. The president is dis- 
 tinguished by a white sash ; and the members, with their gold 
 collars and cuffs, have more the look of livery servants than of 
 the representatives of a free people. The Salle de Pairs, or 
 house of lords, is also a section of a sphere ; it is a splendid 
 room, but the echo is so great, that they are obliged to disfigure 
 it by curtains during the sittings. It contains seats for 158 se- 
 nators, but no galleries. Near the throne are twelve statues of 
 Greek and Roman worthies. The approach is very noble ; a 
 staft-ease of white marble, which occupies the whole of a long 
 gallery, ornamented by statues of men famous in modern France ; 
 among them is Vergniaux as haranguing the national assembly, 
 and Qondorcet in an attitude of thought. — The Luxembourg pa- 
 lace, a magnificent structure, celebrated for its gallery of exqui- 
 site paintings by Rubens, has long been used as a state-prison. 
 
 The Pantheon, formerly the church of St. Genevieve, was built 
 by Louis XV., is of the Corinthian order, and the architecture of the 
 dome most beautiful ; it is a most noble edifice, composed entirely 
 of stone without any mixture of timber ; the national assembly 
 appointed it as a receptacle for the bodies of the princes, grand 
 dignitaries, the officers of the empire, of the crown, of the le- 
 gion of honour, cardinals, senators and ministers. The place 
 appointed for the dead is the crypt, which is perfectly airy and 
 clean ; the tombs of Rousseau and Voltaire are placed at the 
 entrance with simple inscriptions. There is also a library be- 
 longing to the Pantheon. In the Place de Carousel Buonaparte 
 built a magnificent triumphal arch, and placed on it those four 
 beautiful bronze horses, so celebrated all over the world as hav- 
 ing been in the possession successively of Corinth, Rome, Con- 
 stantinople, Venice, Berlin, and now of Paris. The finest square 
 was that of Louis Quinze, in which the unfortunate Louis XVI., 
 Marie Antoinette and the princess Elizabeth were executed. 
 
 The Boulevards are one of the greatest ornaments of the city ; 
 they are the old Pomseriurn of Paris, whose walls are now nearly 
 level with the ground, and by their ruins have formed on the 
 inner side a terrace on which half-a-dozen carriages may drive 
 abreast. On each side of this road are double rows of very fine 
 trees, through which runs a broad path for foot-passengers : so 
 that the whole of Paris, on both sides of the river, is surrounded 
 by a most delightful avenue, which for utility and beauty not 
 
99 
 
 to be matched by any city in the world. The Boulevards are 
 much frequented. The gardens of Tivoli, the Vauxhall oi 
 Paris, are laid out with great taste, and are well illuminated 
 There is a good orchestra, and several bands of music constantly 
 playing in different parts of the gardens, and the fire-works are 
 much superior to those at Vauxhall ; there is great variety in the 
 amusements here, which causes Tivoli to be much frequented. 
 
 But it is the literary institutions of Paris that dteserve the 
 greatest consideration. Every capital has its theatres,' public 
 gardens, and palaces, but Paris alone has its public libraries on 
 a scale of equal utility and magnificence; in Paris alone the 
 poorest student, the most ragged philosopher, has all the trea- 
 sure of princes at his command; the National Library opens 
 at his call, and the most expensive books are delivered for his 
 use. It is a noble building and of great extent, containing nearly 
 half a million volumes, besides 80,000 manuscripts in the Greek, 
 Latin, French, Oriental and other languages. On entering there 
 is a superb staircase which leads to the library on the first floor. 
 It consists of a suite of spacious and magnificent apartments 
 extending round three sides of a quadrangle ; each division has 
 an attending librarian, of whom any one may require the book 
 he wishes, which is immediately delivered to him ; there are 
 tables and chairs in abundance. The librarians being themselves 
 gentlemen, there is no apprehension that they will require any 
 pecuniary remuneration, and there is a strict order that no 
 money be given to any of the inferior attendants. The most 
 complete department of the library is that of the manuscripts ; 
 amongst them are many letters and treatises by the ancient kings 
 of France. Three copies of every book published in France 
 must be given to this library ; cue to be kept, the others to pay 
 for binding it. The cabinet of antiques is stated to be very rich; 
 it chiefly consists of vases, busts, and articles of domestic use 
 among the Romans; the cameos are exquisite; the largest in 
 the collection, and indeed in the whole world, is the Apotheosis 
 of Augustus. The collection in the cabinet of engravings is as 
 numerous as it is magnificent. The portfeuilles containing the 
 prints are divided into twelve classes ; one containing the French 
 fashions from Clovis to Louis XVI. ; another the costume of 
 every nation in the world ; a third portraits of eminent persons 
 of all ages and nations ; &c. France is the only kingdom in 
 the world that possesses a treasure like this, and knows how to 
 estimate it at its proper value. 
 
 The university was founded by Charles the Fat, and consists 
 of four faculties ; divinity, civil and canon law, physic, and the 
 
100 
 
 sciences. The finest college in Paris is that of the Four Nations, 
 or Mazarine. 
 
 The Jardin desPlantes was begun by Gui de la Brosse, physician 
 to Louis XI I I.j who engaged this prince to establish it, in 1630, 
 for the cultivation of useful plants in medicine. Fagon, Chirac, 
 Duffay and Buffon became successively the superintendants, and 
 under the last great man it was wonderfully aggrandized. There 
 was formerly here a piece of ordnance, with a lens or burning-glass 
 placed over the touch-hole, so regulated and adapted to concen- 
 trate the rays of the sun at twelve o'clock every day, as to ig- 
 nite the powder and discharge the cannon. On the right is a 
 close wood, on the left the botanical school and the green-houses, 
 in the middle an immense nursery of plants. Every plant from 
 every quarter of the globe is here cultivated ; those that will not 
 exist in the open air are reared in hot-houses or conservatories. 
 In the botanical school you see the vegetable world in its other 
 stages ; first the seed, wood, &c. preserved ; and then, in ca- 
 binets, every plant dried and carefully placed between folded 
 paper. The bread-fruit is here shown as it is gathered, when 
 sliced, and the preparation for drying it in cakes. Also poison 
 in its liquid and solid states, as collected by the Indians from 
 the poison-tree. The gentleman who presented it to the Museum 
 made an experiment upon a rabbit which was in one corner of 
 the room in high health ; he put the point of a fine needle into 
 this poison, and then slightly pricked the rabbit, which bounded 
 from them, but before it reached the opposite extremity of the 
 chamber, not more than 20 feet, it dropped lifeless without even 
 a convulsion, There is here thread taken from between the bark 
 and trunk of some trees, of which lace is made, very curious and 
 beautiful. There was on the cieling the leaf of a cocoa-tree 17 
 feet in breadth. There are astonishing remains of the old world 
 in the galleries appropriated for this branch of natural history. 
 All sorts of animals you find inlaid in the solid stone, which has 
 been dug up from enormous depths, and some unknown in the 
 regions whence they were excavated. But the most interesting 
 and beautiful of the whole institution is the animal branch of it. 
 Every animal is first shown alive; those that are least vicious 
 have separate paddocks, with verdure and trees, and a house 
 built in the centre, for their accommodation ; others are secured 
 in light airy cages. A beautiful aviary finishes the living part 
 of this branch. Then in the Museum every animal in the known 
 world is stuffed exactly to resemble life. Birds, butterflies, in- 
 sects, fishes, &c. with the most vivid variety of colours, stuffed 
 and dried, form a wonderful collection. In the anatomical school 
 
101 
 
 «very animal is dissected, all the intestines preserved in spirits, 
 sand what cannot be preserved imitated in wax in the greatest 
 perfection. The Gobelins, the Hotel des Invalides, kc. &c, 
 we can only mention as objects of curiosity and beauty, without 
 'describing them. By an ordonnance of Louis XVIII. dated 
 July 9, 1815, all the squares, bridges, public edifices, &c. hi 
 Paris are immediately to resume their ancient names, that is, 
 those they bore on the 1st of January, 1790. 
 
 St. Cloud, 12 miles W. of Paris, is a magnificent palace, 
 with gardens, fountains, &c. which was the favourite residence 
 of Buonaparte; and nature and art seem to have been exhausted 
 to render this spot delightful. The views from it are very beau* 
 tiful, and the gardens more natural, more in the English style, 
 than those of any of the numerous palaces near Paris. The 
 Seine flows through them, and the jets d?eau are of a surprising* 
 height ; but the cascades are far more astonishing, and for these 
 St. Cloud is particularly celebrated. The orangery, though not 
 go extensive as that at Versailles, is infinitely finer, and is con- 
 sidered the most beautiful in France ; it is fitted up with hand- 
 some glass chandeliers, which in the evening must have a very 
 fine effect. The park also is very extensive. The interior of 
 St, Cloud corresponds with its exterior in beauty. The decora* 
 lions and furniture are more magnificent than those of any good 
 dozen of sultans' palaces put together; they are beyond imagina- 
 tion luxurious. Here is the king of Rome's little carriage, a 
 splendid bauble, which used to be drawn by four sheep ; also 
 i»ome very beautiful embroidery worked by Marie Louise, her 
 work-frame, and her piano forte ; they say she was a very good 
 musician. From several of the apartments there is a complete 
 bird's-eye view of the Seine and the country beyond it, termi- 
 nated by a most pleasing and finished prospect of the city of 
 Paris, with the hill of Montmai tre covered with windmills, and 
 the romantic quarries of Belle-ville behind it. The gallery is 
 185 feet long and 25 wide. The chapel is small, the theatre also 
 b small, but neatly fitted up. The library is not very extensive ; 
 some maps lying open, and books with marks and notes in them, 
 were lately seen there, just as Napoleon had left them. Buona- 
 parte constantly slept in his clothes and boots, with his sword 
 by his side; but the rep »rt of his violence, breaking chairs, 
 tables, &c. is most positively contradicted. The palace was 
 built by the duke of Orleans, brother of Loui* XIV. 
 
 The Palate of Versailles, in the midst of a forest 30 mile 
 in circuit, is 12 miles S.W. of Paris, was built by Louis XIV., 
 was the usual residence of the kings of France, till the m* 
 
102 
 
 fortunate Louis XVI. and his family were removed from it to th« 
 Thuiileries. It now exhibits a sad wreck, a skeleton of its 
 former grandeur. This was the favourite residence of Marie 
 Antoinette, and was fitted up in a magnificent style : now no 
 furniture remains. The whole of the interior is composed of 
 marble, gilding, and mirrors, except the cielings, which are 
 beautifully painted. The balcony is pointed out where the king, 
 queen and dauphin appeared, when the mob of Paris came in a 
 body of 20,000 and insisted on his return to the capital ; the 
 mark of a bullet is also shown on the wall, which had killed the 
 first guard who resisted their entrance, and the apartments 
 through which the unfortunate queen saved herself from assas- 
 sination. It is singular to observe what pains they took to de- 
 face evary emblem of the Bourbons ; even the fleurs de lis on 
 the locks of the doors were taken off, and the bonnet rouge 
 placed in their stead. The " Salle de l'Opera" was remarkably 
 beautiful. The chapel is very fine, supported by 16 Corinthian 
 columns, and is celebrated for its architecture and ornaments. 
 The grand gallery is as curious a piece of workmanship of that 
 kind as any in the world; Le Brim was both its architect and 
 painter ; its length is seven times the width. The painting h 
 still good, and the gilding only requires a little soap and water 
 to render it as perfect as ever. In this gallery there arc seven- 
 teen immense windows, and on the opposite side mirrors of a> 
 corresponding size ; it is ornamented with very splendid marble 
 pillars and pilasters. The gardens are finer than any in France, 
 and with the park are five miles in circumference ; they are 
 surrounded by walls, and were filled with a vast number of sta- 
 tues, canals, fountains, kc. and the water-works were perhaps 
 the most celebrated in the world. The new palace is built on 
 an artificial terrace ; under it is the orangery, the descent to 
 which is by a grand flight of 103 steps ; it is of amazing extent. 
 There is a small, but well-arranged library, containing some cu- 
 riosities. 
 
 Trianon, about half-a-mile from Versailles, is a lovely little 
 spot, and has been splendidly furnished by Buonaparte. It con- 
 sists only of a ground floor, and the tout ensemble is light, airy, 
 cheerful and elegant ; most of the rooms are fitted up with Beau- 
 vais tapestry ; and in the gallery, which is very handsome, is a 
 great number of very fine and perfect models of different-sized 
 ships, and some good paintings. In all the palaces of Buona- 
 parte, as well as this, there is a large billiard-table, in which 
 game Marie Louise took great delight. 
 
103 
 
 To conclude — as if just leaving* Paris and going- to Orleans, 
 let us take a peep, en passant, at the Catacombs. They are 
 farmed by an inclosure, separated from the vast quarries which 
 undermine Paris, and are carefully shut; the entrance is by a 
 deep stair-case; they are of immense extent and great depth 
 under ground, and every one that visits them carries a flam- 
 beau. In 1786 the bones found in the cemetery of the Inno- 
 cents, and those in other religious houses that were suppressed, 
 were brought hither, when the place was consecrated. At that 
 time the bones were merely thrown down through an aperture, 
 without any care ; but, in 1811, the arrangement of them was 
 undertaken by M. Hericart de Thury. 
 
 You now pass through long galleries and rooms in great num- 
 bers, ornamented in a most singular way by bones ; in many of 
 them are altars erected ; some consist of cross-bones and skulls 
 piled together. They are formed into walls, some 16 feet deep 
 and 10 high, arranged most curiously in rows of bones, laid as 
 neatly as Mosaic, with rows of sculls between. Bodies in 
 number equal to four times the population of Paris are here de- 
 posited. As they decay, they are closed up in vaults with 
 monuments; and the place is kept very clean. 
 
 Upon the whole, Paris, though a noble city, is far inferior to 
 London in many respects. London is nearly twice as large as 
 Paris ; the population of London, and its environs, is 1,200,000, 
 that of Paris 800,000 : though the palaces and public buildings 
 are particularly noble, and are seen to advantage from having an 
 abundance of ground round them ; though the museums, libra- 
 ries, &c. are unrivalled, and the boulevards and quays most 
 charming ; yet in riches, commerce, charitable institutions, 
 noble streets and squares, it cannot vie with London ; and the 
 river Seine is a pond compared with the Thames. Though very 
 gay and polite, the Parisians are very insincere, and abominably 
 filthy ; and indeed throughout all France they do not seem te 
 understand the meaning of the words, cleanliness and comfort. 
 
101 
 
 STATE OF SOCIETY, 
 MANNERS, CUSTOMS, DRESS, Sfc. fye. 
 
 Having now concluded this imperfect Topographical Sketch 
 of France, 1 proceed to notice a few particulars which could not, 
 ivith propriety, he introduced elsewhere. 
 
 A very lively modern author gives nearly the following account 
 of a French Chateau, a gentleman's seat or mansion, with the 
 manners of its inhabitants and the usual mode of living in it : 
 
 In the ordinary construction of a French chateau there is a 
 greater consumption of wood than brick, and no sparing of 
 ground ; it is usually a rambling building, with a body, wings, 
 and again wings upon those wings, and flanked on each side 
 with a pigeon-house, stables, and barns ; the pigeon-house be- 
 ing on the right, and both the others on the left. The decora- 
 tions are very contemptible : the windows numerous, but even 
 in the best chateaux there is strange neglect as to broken glass, 
 it being frequently left as broken, but more frequently patched 
 with paper, coloured silk, or even stuffed with linen ; the up- 
 per tier of windows, even in the front of the house, is usually 
 ornamented with the clothes of the family hanging out to dry. 
 
 The pleasure grounds attached to the chateau very exactly 
 correspond wit!) its style ; the chateau itself is usually built in 
 the worst site of the whole estate, in some meadow or lawn, 
 and precisely in that part of it which is the natural drain of 
 the whole, and where, if there were no house, there would 
 necessarily be a horse-pond. A grand avenue, planted on each 
 side with noble trees, leads up to the house ; but it is usually 
 so overgrown with moss and weeds, as to convey a most uncom- 
 fortable feeling of cold, dampness and desolation. The grass of 
 the lawn is equally foul, and all the dirt and rubbish is collected 
 under the windows in front The gardens behind are in the same 
 neglected state ; gravel-waiks over-run with moss and weeds ; 
 flower-beds ornamented with statues oi leaden Floras, painted 
 M&rcuries, and Diairs with milk-pails. Every yard almost sa- 
 lutes you with some similar absurdity. The hedges are shaped 
 into peacocks, and not unfrequently into ladies and gentlemen 
 
lOo 
 
 dancing a minuet. Pillars of cypress and pyramids of yew ter- 
 minate almost every walk ; and if there is a hollow in the garden, 
 it is formed into a muddy pond, into which half-a-dozen nymphs 
 in stone are about to plunge. The ill taste of these statues is 
 not the worst ; they are grossly indecent. Indeed there is no 
 such thing as decency, as it is understood in other kingdoms, 
 to be found in France. 
 
 A family no sooner comes to its chateau for the summer (for, 
 since the revolution, this has become the fashion), than pre- 
 paration is immediately made for parties of visitors. Every day 
 brings some one, who is never suffered to go as long as he can 
 be detained. Every chateau thus becomes a pleasant assemblage ; 
 and in riding, walking, and fishing, nothing can pass more 
 agreeably than a French summer in the country. The mode of 
 living in these country residences differs very little from what is 
 common in the same rank of life in England. The breakfast 
 consists of tea, coffee, fruits, and cold meat; the usual dinner 
 hour is two o'clock, it is served up as in England ; the French, 
 however, have not as yet imitated the English in sitting at table 
 to drink after their dinners : coffee, in a saloon or pavilion, 
 fronting the garden or lawn, immediately follows the dinner. 
 The company then divide into parties and walk, and return 
 about eight o'clock to tea ; after tea they dance till supper. 
 At supper all is gaiety and gallantry; the champaigne then 
 goes round, and the ladies drink as much as the gentlemen, 
 that is to say, enough to exhilarate, not to overwhelm, the ani- 
 mal spirits. A Frenchwoman with three or four glasses of wine 
 in her head would certainly make an English one stare ; French 
 wit, French vivacity and French gallantry are then seen in per- 
 fection. There is certainly nothing in England equal to the 
 French supper. 
 
 In cities also strangers are seldom invited to dinner, the sup- 
 per is the grand meal of the day, and is truly elegant: always 
 fish, and sometimes soup, roasted poultry, and, in season, game; 
 peas, cauliflowers and asparagus almost all the year round. It 
 is usually served in a saloon ; but the company make no hesita- 
 tion, in the intervals of conversation and eating, to visit every 
 room in the house. Accordingly all the rooms are prepared and 
 lighted for this purpose; the beds are thrust into cupboards 
 and corners, and the whole house rendered a splendid prome- 
 nade, most brilliantly lighted with glass chandeliers and lustres. 
 This blaze of light is further increased by reflection from the 
 large glasses and mirrors which are found in every room. In 
 England the glasses are generally very pitiful ; in France, even 
 
 e 3 
 
in the inns, they reach in one undivided plate from the top of 
 the room to the bottom. 
 
 The French furniture also is infinitely more magnificent than 
 the English ; curtains, chair-covers, &c. are all of silk, and the 
 chairs fashioned according to the designs of the artists. In a 
 word, a party in France is a spectacle, displaying much art and 
 some taste in the arrangement. There is usually a ribbon which 
 divides the room lengthwise, one side of it being for the dancers, 
 the other for loungers, card- tables, &c. ; the ribbon is supported, 
 at proper distances, by white staves, similar to these of the 
 court ushers. There is no precedency in a French assembly 
 except amongst the military ; this is managed with much deli- 
 cacy ; every group is thrown as much as possible into a circle ; 
 the tables are ail circular ; and, in dancing, cotillons are chiefly 
 preferred from having this quality; 
 
 A few words on the Dresses of the upper ranks in different 
 parts of France may suitably follow these remarks. At a rural 
 assembly in the north of France, the ladies were more exposed 
 about the necks v and their hair was drest with more fancy, 
 than in London; the most elegant novelty was a hat, which 
 doubled up like a fan, so tfyat the ladies carried it in their hands. 
 There were more coloured than white muslins, which had a very 
 pretty effect amongst the trees and flowers. The gentlemen's 
 dresses were made as in England ; but the pattern of the cloth, 
 Ot some appendage to it, was different; one gentleman was ha- 
 bited in a grass-coloured silk coat. There were some fancy 
 dresses ; a Diana, a wood nymph, a Calypso, &c. On the whole, 
 there was certainly more fancy, more taste, more elegance, than 
 m an English party of the same description, though not so much 
 beauty. 
 
 &\ a Parisian assembly the greater part of the ladies were 
 dressed in fancy habits from the antique; as sphinxes, vestals, 
 Dianas, Minervas, Junos, and Cleopatras. One gentleman, with 
 the exception of his linen, was dressed completely in purple silk 
 or satin; and another in a rose-coloured silk coat, with white 
 satin waistcoat and small-clothes, and white silk, stockings. 
 
 The dress of the ladies at a theatre in Paris is described by a 
 tourist of still more modern times, herself a lady. — The Parisian 
 evening costume is a gown certainly, but of such a comical form that 
 ft appears rather as if thrown on by mistake than made for the 
 wearer. Their waists are frightfully short ; and the back of the 
 crown, crossed like a half-handkerchief, leaves by far too much 
 excised ; their petticoats are very short, with five or six flounces 
 of blotadj which, added to the fulness of the dress> make them 
 
107 
 
 look as if they wore hoops ? their hair, d la Grecque, as they 
 call it, is dgawn tight to the top of the head, and then plaited, 
 and a large comb, ornamented with pearls or coral, is placed 
 over the whole front of the hair, which is generally fiat on the 
 forehead, excepting one ringlet on each side of the face. Their 
 walking costume is still more absurd , as their bonnets are of an 
 uncommon height, surmounted by an immense bunch of artifi- 
 cial flowers or feathers, so as when they walk to cause an ex- 
 pectation of their being overbalanced, and a fall the consequence, 
 particularly as they do not walk in the decided John-Bull man- 
 ner, but seem to tremble with sentiment every step they take. 
 
 The fashions of the capital improve as they travel downwards 
 into the provinces ; they lose their excess, and become more 
 modest, simple and elegant The Avignonese ladies follow the 
 Paris fashions, but have too much natural elegance to adopt 
 them in extremes. On the evening parade they were ha- 
 bited in silk robes, which in their form resembled collegiate 
 gowns, and, being of the gayest colours, gave the public walk 
 a resemblance Co a flower-garden ; lace caps were the only co- 
 vering of their heads ; the necks were not so exposed as at Paris, 
 but were open, as is usual in the English full dress; the gown 
 was likewise silk, embroidered in silver, gold, or worked flowers; 
 the shoes of velvet, with silver or gold clasps ; the arms were 
 naked almost up to the shoulders. There is a pretty custom at 
 the balls about the centre of France : if a lady accepts a partner, 
 she presents him in summer with a flower, in winter with a rib- 
 bon of the colour she has adopted as her own ; for every unmar- 
 ried lady adopts a colour, which she always wears on some part 
 of her dress. 
 
 There is a great difference between the French merchant, 
 manufacturer, tradesman, &c. and the English. In most English 
 towns there are men of this class of great wealth and respecta- 
 bility ; it is not so in France. The French towns being compa- 
 ratively poor, and their trade comparatively insignificant, the 
 French tradesmen can seldom do more than obtain a scanty sub- 
 sistence by their business, and have more the air of chandlers 
 than of great dealers. In some of the principal manufacturing 
 towns there may be one or two principal men and respectable 
 houses, but they are not sufficiently numerous to give dignity 
 or consequence to the class. The French accordingly have a 
 contemptible idea of the term merchant, and foreigners under 
 this designation are specifically excluded from admission at 
 court. 
 
108 
 
 The agriculturists, after the revolution, generally became pro- 
 prietors ; this class of society, a comparatively more numerous 
 one in France than in England, has been gradually improving 
 since that period, before which very few of them were proprie* 
 tors of the estates they cultivated. Among the gentry, also, 
 and those who possess large domains, a spirit of agricultural 
 improvement seems to have gone abroad which promises to be 
 very beneficial in its effects to the country. Modern travellers, 
 however, all agree that the husbandry and rural economy of 
 France are still very inferior to the English ; but in the culture 
 and management of the vine they are allowed to excel all nations. 
 The late occurrences and present disastrous state of the country 
 cannot be very beneficial to agricultural pursuits or improve- 
 ments. The march of so many thousands of armed men, justly 
 compared to a flight of locusts eating up and destroying every 
 thing in their course, must have left dreadful marks of devasta- 
 tion behind them ; and France, twice conquered in so short a 
 space of time, must certainly feel the effects of its heavy vi- 
 sitation. 
 
 The Cottages in the neighbourhood of Calais generally had 
 a walnut or chesnut tree before them, around which was a rustic 
 seat overshadowed by its broad branches and luxuriant foliage, 
 and under which the partially worn sod pointed out the scene of 
 the nightly dance of the peasants after the labour of the day. 
 The cottages in general have a small garden, and about 100 yards 
 of -common land between the road and the house, on which 
 grows the indispensable walnut or chesnut tree; the windows 
 are glazed, but the glass is usually taken out in summer ; the 
 walls are sea-stone, but clothed with grape-vines or othes shrubs, 
 which, curling round the casements, render them shady and pic- 
 turesque. Near Ancennis, on the Loire, the cot (ages consist of 
 one floor, divided into two rooms, and a shed behind; they are 
 generally situated in orchards, and front the Loire, and invariably 
 have one or two large trees, which are decorated with ribbons 
 at sun-set, as the signal for the dance. 
 
 The peasantry near Angers, the Vignerons, as they are called, 
 live in the midst of their vineyards ; their habitations are usually 
 excavated out of the rocks and small hillocks on which they 
 gow their vines, and as these hillocks are usually composed of 
 $trata of chalk, the cottages are dry and comfortable; some of 
 them being covered, even over their doors, by the vine branches, 
 have the appearance of so many nests, and as many as have two 
 stories are extremely picturesque. Still farther iu the south of 
 France, towards Lyons, the cottages for the most part are square* 
 
Musician 
 
 Tobacco Merchant 
 
Fruit Woman 
 
 Waterman 
 
white, and with flat roofs ; glass very seldom in the windows ; 
 the climate generally is so dry and delightful, that glass perhaps 
 would rather be an annoyance than comfort. 
 
 AH modern accounts agree in representing the state of the 
 Peasantry as amazingly improved since the revolution; with 
 their sweetly rural cottages, delightful climate, " vine-rovered 
 hills," abundance of excellent fruit, vegetables, poultry, mutton, 
 bread, and wine : with a continual flow of spirits, cheerfulness, 
 and gaiety, siuging at their labour and dancing when their labour 
 is done, they represent them as the happiest of mortals, 
 
 " Whose careless hours glide smooth along, 
 " Who charm misfortune with a Bong." 
 
 There are very few really poor people in France ; the national 
 domains, consisting of the confiscated estates of the church and 
 the emigrant nobility, were exposed to sale during the pecu- 
 niary distresses of the revolutionary government in small por- 
 tions, for the accommodation of the lowest order of purchasers, 
 and five years allowed for completing the payment. This indul- 
 gence, joined to the depreciation of assignats, enabled the poorest 
 description of peasants to become proprietors ; and such they 
 are almost universally, possessing from one to ten acres. As the 
 education of the poor was also sedulously promoted during the 
 early part of the revolution., they have greatly advanced in cha- 
 racter as well as reputation. There is a sort of independence, 
 an uprightness of manner, denoting equality and the conscious- 
 ness of it, which, according to the common report cf the French 
 character, would not be expected. This is sometimes, in the 
 lower class, accompanied by something like American roughness, 
 and is not altogether agreeable to our habits. In general, how- 
 ever, they are extremely attentive to good mariners in their in- 
 tercourse with each other and with their superiors; but you 
 may look in vain for that deference, bordering on servility* which 
 is observable in English dependents. 
 
 There is something very striking to the traveller who passes 
 rapidly through France in the Costumes of the peasantry, 
 which, in different districts, are so distinctly marked, and even 
 contrasted, that they seem to belong to different nations. Here 
 you see round hats measuring two feet across, with very shallow 
 crowns ; the hair long and lank : there immense cocked hats, 
 and the hair en qaeu. Red caps, like jelly-bags, hanging down 
 their backs, on one side of the Pyrenees ; purple ones on the 
 other. The head-dress of the women varies as much ; there is 
 the Norman cap, with wings of snowy white, and the black hood 
 
110 
 
 of the south ; the bonnets differing from each other as mud, zf. 
 the hats of the men in shape and size ; some very large, covering 
 their shoulders, and with high crowns, the brim turned up be- 
 hind ; some bread and flat, with crowns an inch dee p ; and some 
 fitting the head without any brim at all. The common people 
 about Bayoime, called " Basques," have a dress peculiar to them- 
 selves ; the women comb up their hair on the crown of their 
 heads, and cover it with a sort of cap exactly resembling a little 
 turban, which has no inelegant effect. In the neighbourhood 
 of Prades the women wear long hoods, the men red caps, crim- 
 son sashes and sandals ; they are almost Spaniards in language 
 as well as dress. In the mountainous district of Clermont both 
 sexes hobble about among the rocks in wretched sabots, or 
 wooden shoes, with high heels ; they acknowledge they are bad 
 things to walk in, but they are cheap. The women wear straw 
 bounets, some small, others very large and grotesque in shape, 
 and brass plates like fillets round their heads. Tails and im- 
 mense round hats two feet in diameter are worn both by men 
 and boys ; some of the latter, not above four years old, have a 
 tail a foot long. This is the only district in which the long lank 
 locks and gaunt figures of the men give them a famished ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 Travellers in every part of France* in the course of their in- 
 quiries on every topic, meet with no instances of incivility, no 
 reserve or appearance of suspicion. The French of all classes 
 are unwearied in their acts of kindness; they offer their minor 
 services with sincerity, and you cannot oblige them more than 
 by accepting them, nor disappoint them more than by declining 
 them. They have nothing of the English surliness; it would 
 be considered as the most savage brutality to hesitate in, and 
 more particularly to refuse with rudeness, any possiM© satisfac- 
 tion to a stranger. To be a stranger is to be a visitor, and to 
 be a visitor is to have a claim to the warmest reception, hospi- 
 tality and attention 
 
 In every part of France the women employ themselves in of- 
 fices which are deemed with us unsuitable to the sex. Here 
 there is no sexual distinction of employment; the women of all 
 classes undertake any task they are able to perform, without 
 much notion of fitness or unfitness, in all the departments of 
 manufacture, mechanism and agriculture. In the core-hall at 
 Paris, women, in their little counting-houses, are performing 
 the office of factors, in the sale of grain and flour, and from 
 one extremity of the country to the other they ocenpy an im- 
 portant station. The great number of women seen in the fields 
 
Ill 
 
 engaged in husbandry, and in ail the duties of active life, gives 
 a passing traveller an idea of a deficiency of the male popula- 
 tion ; which, however, is not correct. 
 
 The common mode of Travelling in France is but indif- 
 ferent, though the roads are in general excellent; nothing in- 
 deed is wanting to quick travelling in France but English drivers 
 and English carriages. The French postillions, and even the 
 French horses, have a kind of activity without progress; the 
 postillions are very active in cracking their whips over their 
 heads, and the horses shuffle about without mending their pace. 
 The postillions never hesitate to get off their horses, suffer them 
 to go forwards, and follow them very leisurely behind; so that, 
 sometimes, on descending a hill, the traces get entangled about 
 the horses' feet, to the imminent danger of the passengers. 
 Posting unites the worst parts of English and French travelling ; 
 English expense and French accommodation. However, if you 
 take your own voiture, or hire one for the journey, you escape 
 the miserable cabriolets provided by the post-masters, and the 
 trouble of changing every seven or ten miles ; in this way also 
 the journey may be performed more economically. 
 
 The diligence is a most unwieldy machine; it is an extremely 
 large and heavy coach body, on two wheels, carrying eight per- 
 sons within and three without, asid performs the functions of 
 coach and waggon, but neither well ; they travel too slowly for 
 the passengers and too rapidly for the goods, which, unless se- 
 curely packed, suffer very much by the jumbling; the descent 
 of the hills with this weight on the axle-tree is a tremendous 
 operation ; they are, however, conducted with great regularity, 
 run about three miles an hour, and are strangely termed ve~ 
 lociferes. 
 
 The French Inns are not at all inferior to the English in pro- 
 visions, though greatly inferior to them in accommodation, com- 
 fort, convenience, and minor appendages. They abound in good 
 eating and drinking, poultry, eggs, excellent wine and fruit in 
 great variety, and all at a very moderate rate ; but as to cleanli- 
 ness of the rooms, sheets or table-cloths, chairs, tables, and 
 attendants, they are miserably deficient. The bed-room is often 
 the dining-room, the walls merely white-washed, no curtains ; 
 neither soap, water or towel, to cleanse in the morning, a French- 
 man having no idea of it before he breakfasts. Dessein's hotel 
 at Calais must be considered as an exception to this account; 
 it has long been, and is still, the best inn in France. The fami- 
 liar impertinence of t\ie fille$-de~chambre, throughout the whole 
 country, is amazing; they enter your room at all times without 
 
112 
 
 knocking, stay as long as they like, and will remain while you 
 are undressing ; and, if there happen to be two or more, they 
 very co<Hy seal themselves and converse together, they seem to 
 consider this office as a matter of course, and do not think it at 
 all indelicate or improper. Indeed in France generally, in all 
 ranks, there is a want of that feminine delicacy, decency, and 
 modesty, for which the British are so justly and honourably ce- 
 lebrated; a pe:vp!e without those sweet proprieties of life, how- 
 ever exalted by in otal superiority, however extolled for suavity 
 of manners and address, are still a vulgar people, it would be 
 unjust, however, to close this Sketch with an ill-tempered re- 
 mark upon the French ; thry certainly are the most lively, good- 
 tempered and obliging people in the world, and a person can 
 scarcely visit them without coming back much delighted and 
 improved. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 N. B. The figures refer to the number of the articles, and not to the page, 
 except where the articles are not distinct enough to be numbered 
 
 A. 
 
 Abbeville No. 12 
 
 Agen 67 
 
 Aix 87 
 
 Alby 70 
 
 Alencon 43 
 
 Amboise 169 
 
 Amiens 10 
 
 Angers 47 
 
 Angoul£mc 52 
 
 Annonay 146 
 
 Antibes 89 
 
 Aries 78 
 
 Arms 9 
 
 Aucb 58 
 
 Aurillac 109 
 
 Autun 150 
 
 Auxerre 161 
 
 Avignon 79 
 
 Avranches 20 
 
 B, 
 
 Bar-le-Duc !33 
 
 Bayonne 55 
 
 Bazas 54 
 
 Beaucaire 77 
 
 Beauvais 123 
 
 Belle Isle 29 
 
 Besancon 156 
 
 Beziers 72 
 
 Blois 167 
 
 Boulogne 11 
 
 Bourdeaux 53 
 
 Bourg en Bresse 147 
 
 Bourges 163 
 
 Brest 26 
 
 Breteuil 122 
 
 Brianfoa 96 
 
 C. 
 
 Caen No. 17 
 
 Cahors 69 
 
 Calais 1 
 
 Cambray B 
 
 Canal of Langucdoc 73 
 
 Carcassone 64 
 
 Carpentras 83 
 
 Caste! naudry 65 
 
 Castres ft 
 
 Celte 73 
 
 Chalons sur Marne 132 
 
 Chalons sur Saene 151 
 
 Chambord 168 
 
 Chantilly 108 
 
 Charente Page 24 
 
 Chartres No. 171 
 
 Chartreuse, Grande 98 
 
 Chateau, a French Page 104 
 
 Chateaudun No. 119 
 
 Chatcaoroux 166 
 
 Chatiilon sur Seine 153 
 
 Chaumont 159 
 
 Cherbourg 18 
 
 Clermont 107 
 
 Cclmar 142 
 
 Compeigne 125 
 
 Cottages, French Page 108 
 
 Coutances No, 19 
 
 D. 
 
 Dieppe 13 
 
 Dieu, Isle de 34 
 
 Digne- 92 
 
 Dijon 152 
 
 Douay 6 
 Dress Pages 11,106,109 
 
 Dunkirk No. 3 
 
INDEX. 
 
 E nib run 
 
 Epinal 
 
 Evreux 
 
 Foix 
 
 Fontainebleau 
 Fontenay le Comte 
 Fontevrauld 
 
 No. 95 
 158 
 120 
 
 60 
 172 
 40 
 49 
 
 France 
 Frejns 
 
 Gap 
 
 Garonne 
 
 Grasse 
 
 Gravelines 
 
 Gray 
 
 Grenoble 
 
 G*erande 
 
 Gueret 
 
 Havre de Grace 
 Hieres 
 ilieres Isles 
 
 Pages 3, 94, IQ/i 
 Nc. 91 
 
 94 
 
 Page 93 
 Wc. 90 
 4 
 
 155 
 97 
 32 
 
 115 
 
 11 
 87 
 £8 
 
 Inns, French 
 
 La tig" res 
 
 La union 
 
 Laon 
 
 Laval 
 
 Lectoure. 
 
 Lem an s 
 
 Limoges 
 
 Lisle 
 
 Loches 
 
 Loire 
 
 Lous 
 
 Lou v ie rs 
 
 Lunevilie 
 
 Lyons 
 
 L. 
 
 Page 111 
 
 No. 154 
 24 
 127 
 46 
 68 
 45 
 106 
 5 
 118 
 
 Pages 26, 27 
 No. 143 
 15 
 139 
 113 
 
 M. 
 
 Ma-;on 148 
 
 Manners, customs, &c. Page 104 
 
 Mans No. 45 
 
 Masseilles 85 
 
 Meliun sur Yeure 164 
 
 Melun 173 
 
 Mende 
 
 Metz 
 
 Mezieres 
 
 Montargis 
 
 Montelimart 
 
 Mont de Marsan 
 
 Montpellier 
 
 Mont St. Michel 
 
 Moriaix 
 
 Moulins 
 
 Nancy 
 
 Nantes 
 
 Narbonne 
 
 Kc i e rs 
 
 Niort 
 
 Nismes 
 
 Noirmnutier fete 
 
 Oleron Isle 
 Orange 
 Orient, L' 
 Orleans 
 
 P. 
 
 Paris 
 Pau 
 
 Peasantry of France 
 
 Perigueux 
 
 Perpignan 
 
 Plessis les Tours 
 
 Poictiers 
 
 Pont du Gard 
 
 Pont St. Esprit 
 
 Prades 
 
 Privas 
 
 Puy, Le 
 
 No. 
 
 Quimper 
 
 Rennes 
 
 Rhe, Isle de 
 
 Rheims 
 
 Rbodez 
 
 Rhone 
 
 Roanne 
 
 Rochelle 
 
 Roclifort 
 
 Rouen 
 
 Q. 
 
 102 
 136 
 129 
 162 
 100 
 57 
 74 
 21 
 25 
 165 
 
 137 
 41 
 
 63 
 149 
 
 50 
 75 
 
 33 
 
 36 
 81 
 30 
 170 
 
 174 
 
 56 
 
 Page 109 
 No. 105 
 62 
 
 117 
 51 
 76 
 82 
 61 
 
 10! 
 
 Ill 
 
 28 
 
 42 
 35 
 131 
 103 
 e 47 
 114 
 39 
 $8 
 14 
 
 Pao 
 No 
 
INDEX. 
 
 s. 
 
 St. Brieux 
 
 No. 23 
 
 St. Claude 
 
 144 
 
 St. Cloud 
 
 Page 101 
 
 St. Etienne 
 
 No. 112 
 
 St. Floor 
 
 110 
 
 St. Germain 
 
 121 
 
 St. MVlo 
 
 22 
 
 St. Omer 
 
 2 
 
 St. Quentin 
 
 128 
 
 Saintes 
 
 37 
 
 Sassenagc 
 
 Page 58 
 
 Saumnr 
 
 No. 48 
 
 Sedan 
 
 130 
 
 Seine 
 
 i age it) 
 
 Senlis 
 
 No. 1*24 
 
 Sisteron 
 
 93 
 
 Society, State of 
 
 Page 104 
 
 Soissons 
 
 No 126 
 
 Strasburg 
 
 141 
 
 rp 
 
 
 Tar&scon 
 
 77 
 
 Tarbe 
 
 
 Xhionville 
 
 135 
 
 Toul No. 138 
 
 Toulon 8G 
 
 Toulouse 66 
 
 Tours 116 
 
 Trappe, La 44 
 
 Travelling, French Page 111 
 
 Trianon * — 102 
 
 Troyea No. 60 
 
 Tulle 104 
 
 U. 
 
 Ushant Isie 27 
 V. 
 
 Valence 90 
 
 Valenciennes 7 
 
 Vannes 31 
 
 Varennes 134 
 
 Vauduse 80 
 
 Versailles i 5 :v<;e 101 
 
 Vesoui No. 157 
 
 Vienne 145 
 
 w\ 
 
 Wil sen burg- 140 
 
A LIST 
 
 OF 
 
 Improved BOOKS, SfC. for Children, 
 
 RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY 
 
 WILLIAM DARTON, JUN. 58, HOLBORN HILL, 
 
 Opposite ELY PLACE, LONDON. 
 
 1. A FIRST OR MOTHER'S DICTIONARY FOR CHILDREN, con- 
 taining- upwards of Three Thousand Eight Hundred Words, which occur 
 most frequently in Boohs and Con ersation ; simply and familiarly ex- 
 plained, and interspersed throughout with occasional Remarks: the Whole 
 adapted to the Capacities of Younger Pupils. By Anna Brownvvell Murphy, 
 18mo. price 4s. 6d. bound. 
 
 •2. THE FIRST OR MOTHER'S CATECHISM ; containing- Common 
 Thing's necessary to he known at an Early Age. By the Rev. David Blair. 
 Price 9d. 
 
 3. A SCHOOL DICTIONARY, or Entick's English Dictionary abridged, 
 and adapted to the Use of Schools, containing only the Roots of Words, 
 and those of Importance and Utility, and omitting derivative, obsolete, vul- 
 gar, and unusual Words. By the Rev. David Blair, Author of the First 
 or Mother's Catechism. Third Edition, with numerous Improvements, 
 price 3s. bound. 
 
 4. THE JUVENILE SPECTATOR ; being Observations on the Tempers, 
 Manners and Foibles of various Young Persons 5 interspersed with such 
 lively Matter, as, it is presumed, will amuse as well as instruct. By Ara- 
 bella Argus. Two Vols. 12mo. price 4s. 6d. each Vol. bound. 
 
 5. THE WONDERS OF THE MICROSCOPE ; or, an Explanation of 
 the Wisdom of the Creator, in Objects comparatively minute; adapted to 
 the Understanding of Young Persons. Illustrated with Five large Copper- 
 plates. Price 4s. 6d. 
 
 6. THE WONDERS OF THE TELESCOPE; or, a Display of the 
 Starry Heavens, and of the System of the Universe: calculated to promote 
 and simplify the Study of Astronomy. With Fourteen Plates, Price 6s. 
 
 7. THE GEOGRAPHICAL PRIMER, designed for the Younger Classes 
 of Learners, and calculated to advance them, by natural and easy Grada- 
 tions, to a perfect Acquaintance with the Elements of the Science: with an 
 Appendix, containing Fourteen Hundred Questions on the principal Maps. 
 By J. H. Wiffen. 18mo. 3s. bound. 
 
 8. DIX'S JUVENILE ATLAS, containing Forty-four Maps, with plain 
 Directions for copying them ; designed for Junior Classes. 4to. half-bound, 
 price 10s. 6d. plain, or 14s, full coloured. 
 
 9. TALES OF THE ROBIN and ether small Birds. By Joseph Tat- 
 1 gi?, price *2s. 6d. 
 
BOOKS, Sfc. published. by W. DARTON, Jun. 
 
 10. THE UNION ATLAS, containing Thirty-eight new and improved 
 Maps of all the Empires, Kingdc.ms and States in th» known World; de- 
 signed as a Companion to the various Gazetteers and Books of Geography 
 now in Use. The whole clearly engraved by artists of eminence, and care- 
 fully coloured; including Maps of the Roman Empire and of Ancient 
 Greece. Imperial 4to. price, half-bound and full-coloured, 20s. 
 
 11. A DESCRIPTION of the most remarkable TREES, PLANTS and 
 SHRUBS in all Parts of the World ; illustrated with several curious Anec- 
 dotes of their wonderful Properties, and, at the same time, manifesting in- 
 finite Wisdom in the Formation of those valuable Productions, so beneficial 
 to all Mankind. By Joseph Taylor, Author of Tales of the Robin. 12mo. 
 price 4s. sheep lettered. 
 
 12. THE WONDERS OF ANIMATED NATURE ; consisting of De- 
 scriptions at large and engraved Representations of the principal Animate 
 and Birds in the Royal Menageries of London and Paris. Translated fiora 
 La Cepkde, with considerable Additions by the English Editor. 8vo. half- 
 bound, price 8s. 
 
 13. PORTRAITS OF CURIOUS CHARACTERS IN LONDON, &c. 
 &c. with descriptive and entertaining Anecdotes. Price One Shilling. 
 Containing Likenesses of the following singular Characters :— — Nathaniel 
 
 Bentley, Esq. Ann Siggs Martin Van Butchell John Statham— 
 
 Anne Longman— -John and Robert Green Tom and his Pigeons — -Roger 
 
 Smith George Romondo Toby, or Sham Abraham Sir John Dineiy 
 
 " Brother John and I " Ann Johnson Samuel Horsey Miss Theo- 
 dora de Verdion, who dressed as a man- — Daniel Lambert Mary Jones 
 
 A well-known Carver in Fleet-market* — John Ehves, Esq. the Miser 
 
 ■ The Flying Pie-man Thomas Laugher, aged 109 Years Daniel 
 
 Dancer, Esq. The above Portraits are accompanied with a Biographical 
 Sketch of. each Character, which will be found highly interesting. 
 
 14. THE FRENCH AND -ENGLISH PRIMER ; or, An Easy Vocabulary 
 «f Twelve Hundred Common Words, for the Use of Children. By the Abbe 
 Bgssut. Price 9d. 
 
 15. A TOUR THROUGH ENGLAND, described in a Series of Letters 
 from a Young Gentleman to his Sister. With Copper-plates. Third Edi- 
 tion, revised, price 3s. 
 
 16. A VISIT TO LONDON, containing a Description of tfie principal 
 Curiosities in the British Metropolis. With Six Copper-plates. Price 2e. 6d. 
 
 17. A VISIT TO A FARM-HOUSE; or, An Introduction to various 
 Subjects connected with Rural Economy. Embellished with beautiful Plates. 
 Price 2s. 6d. 
 
 18. MARY AND HER CAT, aTale for good Children, chiefly in Words 
 ©f Two Syllables. Price Is. 
 
 19. JUVENILE PLUTARCH, containing Accounts of the Lives of cele- 
 brated Children, and of the Infancy of Persons who have been illustrious 
 for their Virtues or Talents. With Plates. Two Vols. Price 5s. 
 
 20. THE ORPHAN BOY ; or, A Journey to Bath. Founded on Fact. 
 By Mary Belson. Price 2s. half-bound. 
 
 21. THE TRUE HISTORY OF A LITTLE BOY, who cheated himself. 
 Founded on Fact. With appropriate Cuts. Price Is. 6d. coloured, or Is. 
 plain. 
 
BOOKS, Sfc. published by W. DAUTON.Jun. 
 
 GAMES. 
 
 22; NEWTON'S NEW GAME OF VIRTUE REWARDED AND VICE 
 PUNISHED, for the Amusement of Youth of both Sexes; on Canvas, with 
 a Case and Tetotum, Counters end Pyramids, complete. Price 9s. 
 
 23. NEWTON'S NEW GAME OF THE MANSION OF BLISS ; on 
 Canvas, with Tetotum, Counters and Pyramids, complete. Price 9s. 
 
 24. THE SEVEN PUZZLES; on Canvas, in Case; designed for the 
 Entertainment of a Winter's Evening-. Pri#e 2a. 6d. 
 
 25. WALKER'S NEW GEOGRAPHICAL GAME; exhibiting a Tour 
 through Europe; on Canvas, and Case, with Tetotum aud Counters, com- 
 plete. Price 6s. 
 
 26. WALKER'S GAME OF ENGLAND AND WALES; a new Geo- 
 graphical Pastime ; on Canvas, and in Case, with Tetotum, Counters, &c. 
 complete. Price 6s. 
 
 27. WALKER'S TOUR THROUGH IRELAND; a new Geographical 
 Pastime. Prise 6s. 
 
 28. WALKER'S TOUR THROUGH SCOTLAND; a new Geographical 
 Pastime. Price 6s. 
 
 29. WALKER'S TOUR THROUGH FRANCE; a new Geographical 
 Pastime. Price 6s. 
 
 THE FOLLOWING WHOLE-SHEET MAPS ARE 
 CLEARLY ENGRAVED AND COLOURED, 
 
 Price 6d. each. 
 
 19. Spain and Portugal 
 
 1. Western Hemisphere, or New 
 W r orld 
 
 '2. Eastern Ditto, or Old World 
 
 3. Europe 
 
 4. Denmark 
 
 5. Sweden, Denmark, and Norway 
 
 6. Russia in Europe 
 
 7. Russian Empire 
 
 8. Scotland 
 
 9. England 
 
 10. United Kingdom of England, 
 
 Scotland and Ireland 
 
 11. Ireland 
 
 12. France 
 
 13. Holland 
 
 14. Poland awl Prussia 
 
 15. Netherlands 
 
 16. Germany 
 
 17. Switzerland 
 IB. Hungary 
 
 20. Italy 
 
 21. Turkey in Europe 
 
 22. Ditto in Asia 
 
 23. China 
 
 24. East Indies 
 
 25. Persia 
 
 26. Asia 
 
 27. Hindostan 
 
 28. Africa 
 
 29. North America 
 
 30. United States of America 
 
 31. West Indies 
 
 32. South America 
 
 33. Arabia 
 
 34. Egypt 
 
 35. Greece 
 
 36. Mercator's Chart of the Worlij 
 
 37. Romanum Iinperium 
 
 38. Gnecia Anriqua 
 
 30. A NEW WHOLE-SHEET MAP OF ENGLAND AND WALES, 
 by Mr. Brooks, with the Whole of the Turnpike and other Roads, laid 
 down with great Care; being a complete Travelling Companion. Price 
 3s. 6d. 
 
 31. DITTO ditto, in a neat Case, for the Pocket. Price 5s. 
 
BOOKS, Sfc. published by W. DARTOM 9 Jun. 
 
 .32. WARD'S PLAN OF LONDON, on a Sheet, coloured, price Is.; 
 and with the East and West India and London Docks, price Is. 6d. 
 
 33. DITTO, on Canvas, in a Case, for the Pocket, without the Docks? 
 price 2s. 6d. 
 
 34. DITTO ditto, with the Docks, in a Case, price 3s. 6 J. 
 
 DISSECTED MAPS 
 
 Are submitted to the notia of Schools, and those who have the care of 
 Youth, as affording them useful information, blended with amusement ; 
 all of which are of mahogany, and vjill not warp, and are warranted 
 * perfect, 
 
 ENGLAND AND WALES, Price 3s 6d. 
 THE SAME, - . - - - - * 7s. 6d. 
 THE SAME, 10s. 6d. 
 
 EUROPE, ------ ^ 3s. 6d. 
 
 THE SAME, 7s. Od 
 
 THE SAME, - 10s. 6d. 
 
 THE WORLD IN HEMISPHERES, 5s. 
 
 THE SAME, 7s. 6. 
 
 THE SAME, 10s. 6d. 
 
 And eiery other kind of Dissected Maps, at various prices, according to 
 
 their Size. 
 
 DISSECTED PUZZLES. 
 
 GOLDSMITH'S DESERTED VILLAGE ; illustrated with very neat 
 Engravings. The Poem is handsomely engraved on Copper, and will be 
 found a Curiosity well adapted for the Purposes of a. Present. Price 8s. 
 Price 4s. 6d. each, 
 
 MY FATHER, with coloured plates 
 MY MOTHER, - - - - Ditto 
 MY SISTER, - - - - Ditto 
 MY BROTHER, - - - - Dicto 
 MY BIBLE, ----- Ditto 
 
 MY GOVERNESS, - - - Ditto 
 
 MY SON, Ditto 
 
 MY DAUGHTER, - - - Ditto 
 
 MY CHILDHOOD, - - - Ditto 
 
 MY PONY, Ditto 
 
 The Poem of GRATITUDE, with coloured Plates. 
 The Infant's Pastoral Hymn, called MY SHEPHERD; or, The Lamb- 
 n's Confession. 
 
 With a large Assortment of others, from Is. 6d. to 8s. 
 
 SCHOOL BOOKS, 
 
 Of most kinds are also kept, and Schools supplied on the usual Terms, 
 
 Printed by W, Dartcn, Juii. 58, Rclbom Hill. 
 
Spec' A i- Z7-*> 
 13 -2. 
 
 THE GETTY CENTER 
 UBRARY