THE influence of France may be compared to that which ancient Greece possessed over the civilized world; the French language has become the language of courts and ambassadors; the literature of the same people has been admired by the enlightened of every nation: since the revolution, French philosophers have contributed, perhaps more than those of any other country, to extend the limits of science, and French armies crowned with laurels, have dictated their laws to Europe. Those who consider philosophically certain questions by which geography may be changed into a new science, must examine the causes on which the characters that distinguish a people from neighbouring nations, depend. It cannot be attributed to climate, for the extreme degrees of cold or heat, that modify • Publishers' Notice.-The present volume commences, as will be seen, with the description of France, and completes the Universal Geography of Malte-Brun. Owing to an oversight, the volume commences with page 427, instead of page 1. The signatures, of course, appear to mark Vol. V. when they should mark Vol. VI. The Contents for the two volumes are given at the end of this one. starts high proging 428 bitants. BOOK ONE HUNDRED AND FORTIETH. the physical or moral powers of the inhabitants, are not felt in France; neither can the causes be discovered in the inequalities of the soil, for there are no extensive plains or mountainous chains, which, by determining men to become husbandmen or shepherds, accelerate or retard the progress of civilization. The question, therefore, depends on other causes, and its solution is not without interest in the description of a country whose inhabitants have enlightened Europe, planted the seeds of freedom in America, and overturned empires in their political commotions. Ancient inha. The population of France belongs to three different races, viz. the Celtic, which forms nearly three-fourths of the inhabitants, the Germanic, or the people in the ancient provinces of Flanders, Alsace, and in part of Lorraine, and lastly, the Pelasgian, diffused through the country near the Mediterranean. The changes occasioned by civilization may modify, but cannot wholly destroy the character of the inhabitants. It is easy to discover the French of the present day in the description of the Celts, given by Cæsar, Strabo, and other writers. Although they mixed with the Franks, their conquerors, the traits by which they were distinguished, have not been effaced. The Celta-Galli, or Gauls, were gay, frivolous, quick of apprehension, easily excited, prompt in forming their resolutions, brave in battle, attached to their country, and zealous of their freedom. Their frankness and impetuosity are so great, adds the Greek geographer, that each man thinks it incumbent on him to resent an injury offered to his neighbour. They speak often of their glorious deeds, says Cæsar, but probably from their natural inconstancy, they are presumptuous after success, and dejected after defeat. The ancients describe them as ostentatious and fond of ornaments, affable to strangers, and practising hospitality; according to their laws, the man who murdered a stranger, was punished with death, while he who murdered a native was only sent into exile. At a very remote period, they elected their own magistrates, limited the authority of their princes, and never granted subsidies until they had deliberated in their popular assemblies. Their politeness distinguished them from all the people whom the Greeks and Romans comprehended under the name of barbarians. Such are the accounts left by the ancients of the Celts, and they are in some respects still applicable to the French. Thus, too, the difference which has been observed between the same people and other inhabitants of Europe, may be perhaps explained. The Celts are indebted to their physical constitution for the qualities which render them to a certain degree susceptible of perfectability; these qualities have been transmitted from generation to generation; the soil which they occupied, and which they still possess, has been rendered more productive by their labour, and so long as the progress of improvement continues, France is likely to be the most flourishing country in Europe. Division of Gaul under the Romans. The people of the Celtic race whom the ancients called Galli, or Valli, were renowned for their conquests more than seven foundation of Rome. It is unnecessary to indicate the period of their first migration; history has preserved but a confused remembrance of it. It is known that they made several invasions into Italy, and that the Romans, This division seems to have been derived not so much from ethnographical principles as from the physical character of the inhabitants. Strabo, Book IV. ch. 4. De Bello Gallico, Liber XIV. cap. 4. Ammianus Marcellinus, Book LXV. chap. 13. while in the height of their power, employed vast armies to subdue them. Sixty years of war and carnage were hardly sufficient to reduce their country into Roman provinces, which occupied nearly the same space that the kingdom of France does at present. The glory of terminating these expeditions was reserved for Česar, and it is from the writings of the same person that the Romans derived their knowledge concerning the different nations in that part of Gaul which they called Transalpine (Gallia Transalpina.) When the general entered the country, it was inhabited by three principal tribes, or nations; the Celta and Aquilani, who, although they spoke distinct dialects, belonged evidently to the Celtic race, and the Belga of Germanic extraction, who inhabited the northern part of the country. Gaul was divided into four provinces by Augustus; Probus subdivided it into seven; Diocletian into twelve; Valentinian into fourteen; and during the reign of Gratian, the number amounted to seventeen. We shall enumerate the inhabitants of the fifteen provinces which made up the present territory of France. First Narbon The first Narbonnaise, (Narbonensis Prima,) formed by the Roussillon, the greater part of the county of Foix and Conse- I naise. rans, was inhabited by the Sardones, a people probably sprung from an Illyrian colony; and by the Volca, divided into the eastern and the western; the former were surnamed the Arecomici; their lands extended to the banks of the Rhone; the latter, or the Tectosages, a warlike people, carried their arms into Germany and founded Ancyra in the Asiatic country, which has been called Galatia, from its Gallic inhabitants. The Second Narbonnaise, (Narbonensis Secunda,) which com- The second | Narbonnaise. prehended the greater part of Provence, was inhabited by the Tricorii, a people mentioned by Livy in his account of Annibal's expedition, by the Saluvii or Salyes, a tribe formidable to their neighbours; and also by the Oxybii, who distinguished themselves in the wars against the Romans. Within the Maritime Alps (Alpes Maritima) were contained Maritime part of Dauphiny, Provence, and Piemont. The Caturiges, who inhabited the soil of France, disputed with Cesar the passage of their mountains. Novempopulania comprehended the territory of Gascony, Novempopu| lania. Armagnac, Bearn, and Lower Navarre. It was peopled by the Boii, whom Ausonius calls Picci, because their country abounded with pitch or resin, by the Ausci, who inhabited Auch, by the Bigerrones in Bigorre and Berin, who covered themselves in winter with the skins of animals; and lastly, by the Tarbelli and Tarusates, who resisted Cesar and Crassus. taine. The First Aquitaine (Aquitania Prima) was the most impor- First Aquitant province of Gaul; in it were comprehended Quercy, Rouergue, Auvergne, Bourbonnais, Marche, Limousin, Velai with Gevaudan, a considerable portion of Languedoc, Berry, and a part of Poitou. It was peopled by the Cadurci, whose principal city was Cahors; by the Arverni, or inhabitants of Auvergne, the most warlike nation of the Celtic Belgium, Celtic Gaul, Aquitaine, and Narbonnaise. Belgium, the first and second Germany, the Lyonnaise, the Viennoise, Narbonnaise, and Aquitaine. « The first and second Belgium, the first and second Germany, the Great Sequanaise, the first and second Lyonnaise, Narbonnaise, Viennoise, and Aquitaine, to which were added, the Greek Alps, comprehending part of Switzerland and Savoy, and the maritime Alps, or part of Provence and the county of Nice. By the subdivision of Aquitaine into three parts, the first and second Aquitaine and Novempopulania. By the division of the two Lyonnaise into four, and Narbonnaise into two. * The Greek Alps formed a part of Savoy; the second Germany will be described in the account of the Netherlands. race; by the Lemovices or Limousins, who raised an army of ten thousand men; and by the Bituriges, who possessed an extensive territory long before the invasion of Cesar. Second Aqui tania. The Second Aquitaine (Aquitania Secunda) comprehended a part of Poitou, Saintonge, Angoumois, Perigord, Agenois, and the rest of Guienne. The inhabitants were the Pictones or Pictavi, the Santones in the territory of Saintes, Coignac and Angouleme, the Petrocorii, or ancestors of the Perigourdins, the Meduli in the country of Medoc, the Bituriges-Vivisci, or people of Bordelais. Viennoise (Vienensis) included part of Provence, part of Viennoise. Dauphiny, the principality of Orange, part of Languedoc and Savoy, together with the territory of Geneva. The inhabitants were the Anatilii on both banks of the Rhone, the Cavares and Allobroges on the right bank of the same river, the Verontii, a warlike people, included by Rome in the number of her allies, and lastly the Helvii. Great Sequa. naise. The Great Sequanaise (Maxima Sequanorum) was formed. by part of Burgundy, Franche-Comté, Bassigny, Bresse, and a portion of Switzerland. All the French part of the same province was included in the territory of the Sequani, from which the Romans imported their best bacon.1 naise. naise. First Lyon- The First Lyonnaise (Lugdunensis Prima) was made up of I Lyonnais, Beaujolais, Forez, and a part of Burgundy, Nivernais, Franche-Comté, and Champagne. It was inhabited by two powerful nations, by the Ambarri, who, during the reign of the Ancient Tarquin, sent colonies into Italy, and by the Edui, the allies of the Romans before the invasion of Cesar into Gaul; they were governed by a president or elective chief, who was not permitted to leave the territory of the republic. Second Lyon. The Second Lyonnaise (Lugdunensis Secunda) comprehended Normandy, French Vexin, and the greater part of Perche. It contained nine different tribes, and a resemblance still subsists between their names and the names of different parts of the country. The Caletes inhabited the country of Caux; the Eburovices, the territory of Evreux; the Lexovii, Lizieux; the Saii, Seez; the Baiocasses, Bayeux; the Venelli, Valogne; the Avrincatæ, Avranches; the Veducasses, the city of Vieux, now a small village near Caen; and the Veliocasses, Vexin. Third Lyon- The people of the Third Lyonnaise (Lugdunensis Tertia) were the Redones in the territory of Rennes, the Veneli in Vennes, a wealthy and commercial people, the Mamnetes in Mantes, the Arvii on the banks of the Arve; a feeder of the Sarthe, the Cennomani, in the country round Mans, the Andecavi in the territory of Angers. Thus it appears that the province was made up of Brittany, Maine, Anjou, and Tourraine. Fourth Lyon. As to the Fourth Lyonnaise, (Lugdunensis Quarta,) six different tribes were settled in Beauce, the isle of France, Brie, a part of Champagne, Burgundy, Nivernais, Gatinais, and Orleanais: these tribes were the Carnutes in Chartrain, the Parisii round Paris, the Meldi in the territory of Meux, the Tricasses in the neighbourhood of Troyes, the Seriones who inhabited Sens and Auxerre, and sent armed colonists into Italy; lastly, the Aureliani in the territory of Orleans. naise. naise. The First Belgium (Belgica Prima) was formed by the First Belgium. dutchy of Luxembourg, part of the territory of Treves, and the province of Gueldre. It was partly inhabited by the Treveri, a people that have been already mentioned, and also by the Carisi, of whom some account shall be given in the chapter on the Netherlands. The people in the French part of the province were the Mediomatrici, who inhabited 1 Strabo, Book IV. chap. 3. § 2. |