BOOK CXLII. BOOK CXLII. Five re gions. EUROPE. Europe continued.-Kingdom of France. First Section. SOME account has been given in a preceding chapter of the people from whom the French are descended; it has been seen that their chiefs have added to their power by conquests, that in some instances they have wielded the destinies of Europe. The resources which it derives from its climate, soil and natural wealth, were enumerated in the last chapter. Such at least was the end proposed in describing the country in its connexion with historical and physical geography. It now remains for us to examine France in detail, a task not without difficulty. It would be desirable to adhere to the accuracy and precision which ought to be the basis of topography, and at the same time to avoid unnecessary repetition in naming the departments, districts and chief towns, which, unlike the ancient governments and provinces, have not the advantage of being connected with historical associations. The artificial division by which France is made to consist of five regions, those on the south, the cast, the centre, the west and the north, appears on the whole to be the best or, at all events, the one by which its chorography may be the most conveniently explained. Besides, the same method has been established by custom, it is familiar to a great many persons, and it is also useful in another point of view, for the new and ancient divisions may thus be determined with tolerable accuracy. The same route that has been followed in the last chapter, the one from the south to the east and north, may be continued in the present. Corsica is the largest French department in point of extent, the least in point of population. Placed between Italy, Spain and France, civilization and industry may one day render it a very advantageous commercial and maritime station; indeed when European states acknowledge the folly of maintaining colonies, long since proved to be more onerous than profitable, France may find in the fruitful soil of Corsica, and in its climate, well adapted for colonial produce, a source of wealth that requires apparently an enlightened government to realize. BOOK CXLII. Corsica. When the traveller, who quits the coasts of France for Ajaccio the port of Ajaccio, first observes the island, it has the appearance of an enormous pyramid formed by mountains, which, from the effect of distance, seem to be grouped round each other. The chief town or the residence of the prefect, is not the largest of the Corsican cities. Bastia, which was formerly styled the capital of the island, is the most populous, but Ajaccio is considered the most ancient; for it was the seat of a diocess at so early a period as the sixth century. It is true that the miasms from a neighbouring marsh, made the inhabitants determine to abandon the place in the year 1435, so that the present Ajaccio is distant about a mile from the site of the ancient town, The streets are broad and straight, the houses are not without elegance, the prefecture is at once a simple and imposing edifice, the barracks are large, the harbour, spaci ous and convenient, the entrance into it is guarded by a citadel. The places connected with education, by so much the more necessary as the inhabitants are still bigoted to their prejudices and ancient customs, are a college, a library of 13,000 volumes, a botanical garden, and an agricultural society. A large edifice is at present building to serve as an hospital, an asylum for foundlings, and a school for young girls. The commerce of the town consists in the sale of the oil and wine produced in the neighbouring country, and in coral which is obtained on the southern coasts. Ajaccio is likely to be for ever memorable, for Napoleon Bonaparte was born within its walls VOL. VIII. 26 CXLII. Bastia. BOOK in 1769. Urcino, a small anchorage in the gulf of Sagona, at some leagues to the north of Ajaccio, indicates the site of Urcinium, a Roman town, once well known on account of its carthern vases, in which the ancients kept their Falernian. Ajaccio is the residence of the bishop and the prefect; but Bastia, situated at the opposite extremity on the coast fronting Italy, is the residence of the commander in chief. As a fortified town, it may be considered as belonging to the first class; it has a college and a theatre. A society for the purpose of diffusing instruction has of late years been instituted. It is not so well built as Ajaccio; its harbour constructed in the form of an amphitheatre can only receive small vessels, but commerce and industry place it above its rival; it carries on a trade in soap, paste, wax, liqueurs and other articles. The burgh Mariana. of Mariana at four leagues to the south, near the banks of the Golo, stands on the site of an ancient town, which bore the same name, and which according to tradition was founded by Marius. Depart Var. The other towns in the island are of less consequence; Calva on the western coast is defended by a fortress, and its anchorage might contain a large fleet. St. Florent at three leagues to the west of Bastia, and Porto Vecchio on the castern coast are known for their good wine and granite quarries. These places, as well as Bonafacio, which carries on a trade in wine, oil and olives, are provided with convenient and safe harbours. Sartene, situated at the base of the heights, which command the left bank of the Valinco, has been entitled a subprefecture. Corte, almost in the centre of the island, near the confluence of the Orta and the Tavignano, is a poor and ill-built town; its isolated situation in a mountainous district at a comparatively great distance from the sea, prevents the increase of its commerce, which consists merely in agricultural products. The passage boats between the island of Corsica and ment of the France were by no means remarkable for their celerity, but since the commencement of the year 1830, steam vessels have sailed regularly, and the communication between the two countries, has in consequence been much facilitated. The mouth of the Var may be seen from the vessels as BOOK CXLII. they approach the port of Antibes; the lower part of the same river serves as a boundary between the kingdom of France and the county of Nice, now dependent on the Sardinian crown. The country forms part of Provence, the earliest conquest of the Romans in Gaul, the same people called it Provincia, the name has thus been preserved. Antibes, a place of great antiquity, the Antipolis Antibes. of the ancients, was founded 340 years before the vulgar era by the Greek colonists that built Marseilles. Augustus made it a municipal town, but before his time it must have been a place of some consequence, since it had its theatre and other public buildings, of which the ruins still remain. Trade animated the harbour, and the tunny fisheries furnished employment to many individuals. Although it has now lost its commerce, it is still important as a military station. As a strong town it belongs to the third class; such as it is, however, it may oppose a barrier to the invasions which threaten France from the Sardinian frontier. The island of St. Marguerite rises between the gulfs of Juan and Napoule; its strong castle, once an ancient state prison, served as a place of confinement for the mysterious prisoner with the iron mask. Cannes, where Napoleon landed in 1815, may be mentioned among the maritime towns in the department of the Var; fifteen years before that period, he disembarked at Frejus on his return from Frejus. Egypt. The last town, although small, is larger than Cannes, it was the Forum Julii, a place embellished by Julius Cæsar and Augustus, but probably founded, like Antibes, by a Greek colony. The name by which it was known before it became the station to the eighth Roman legion, has long been forgotten; still, however, monuments and ruins are not wanting to attest its ancient splendour. The harbour, twice as large as the harbour of Marseilles, was the largest in Gaul. Agricola, the father-in-law of Tacitus, was born in the same place, now an inconsiderable town, whose inhabitants have to contend against an unwholesome atmosphere and a marshy situation. Saint Tropez, at the Saint Trodistance of five leagues from Frejus, on the gulf of Grimaud, is remarkable on the other hand for its salubrious climate. The harbour is defended by a citadel, and in the dockyards pez. BOOK CXLII. Toulon. are built the fishing-boats that are used on the coast; it stands on the site of Heraclea Caccabaria, well known for its temple of Hercules. Hyères, like the last place, is famed for a mild and salubrious climate, and also for the excellent oranges produced in the vicinity. Toulon, it has been said, was founded by the Roman general Telo Martius, about the middle of the fourth century; it was famous during the reign of Arcadius for different dies, particularly purple. The harbour, one of the largest in Europe, is divided into two parts, the old, finished by Henry the Fourth, and the new, built by Lewis the Fourteenth; they communicate with each other by means of a canal. The careening wharf, three hundred feet long and one hundred broad, the rope yard, an arched building, 1572 feet in length, the arsenal, the docks, the foundry and the sail manufactory are the most important places in the town. Toulon stands near the base of a hill, which commands it on the north. The streets are narrow and irregular, the squares are not very imposing, one however forms an exception, the Field of Battle, for so it has been called, is a spacious square adorned with a double range of trees. The principal balcony in the townhouse is supported by two grotesque figures of colossal size, the work of the celebrated Pujet; it is said that the artist wished to represent two consuls by whom he was disappointed in a favourite project. The town was partly destroyed by the Arabs about the end of the tenth century; having been built by the counts of Marseilles, it was twice ruined in the twelfth century by the Mahometans. The duke of Savoy, aided by the English and the Dutch, besieged it in vain about the beginning of the eighteenth century. The Spaniards and the English, availing themselves of the civil dissensions in France, found bribery and intrigue more successful weapons in 1793; but they did not keep it long, at the end of a few months, they were driven to their ships by the young soldier, who afterwards filled Europe with his fame. The chevalier Paul, who was born in the town, rose in the course of the last century from a very humble station, that of a common sailor, to be vice-admiral of France. |