BOOK CXLII. Marmande ed the brouillard in the country, changes the joyful days of spring into days of mourning. If the burning rays of the sun are suddenly felt after the cold, which generally accompanies the same phenomenon, the hopes of the husbandman are blasted. Marmande was destroyed by the Arabs in the eighth century although many of the buildings are antiquated, it is on the whole, a well built town; it is the chief place in a district of the same name, it rises on the right bank of the Garonne, and carries on a considerable trade with BorTonneins. deaux. Tonneins consists mostly of a long and broad street, embellished with several fine houses; the inhabitants are industrious, and the town is a place of trade both in the products of the department, and in different manufactures. The tobacco works, which were at one time in greater repute than any others in France, are situated at a short distance from the walls. Although its snuff is still much prized, connoisseurs of the present day seem to give the preference to that of Clairac, a town situated on the Lot, peopled by 5,000 inhabitants, and one of the first places in the south that embraced the reformation. Villeneuve d'Agen, which was built in the thirteenth century according to a regular plan, is watered by the Lot; the principal arch of a bridge erected at the same epoch over the river, may be about 108 feet in width and 55 in height. The old fortifications are now changed into agreeable walks, but some remains of the former may be seen near the castle of Duke Alphonso, the brother of St. Lewis, and the founder of the town. No other place of any consequence can be mentioned in the same district. Agen, although thinly peopled, is the most important town in the department; the name of Aginum attests its antiquity, Ptolemy informs us that it was the capital of the Nitiobriges. It obtained the rank and privileges of a city under Theodosius; it is at present the seat of a diocess and a court of justice. The streets are narrow and crooked, the houses clumsy and inconvenient, but the bridge on the Garonne is a fine building of its kind. The walks are laid out with much taste, and the neighbouring country cannot be too much commended. Agen was the native town of Joseph Scaliger and Lacepede. The in Agen. habitants manufacture hard-wares, sail-cloth and printed cottons. The small but neat town of Nerac on the Bayse, is situated in a picturesque country, and commanded by an ancient Gothic castle, the residence of the kings of Navarre. BOOK CXLII. Nerac. ment of the The department of the Gers, bounded on the south by Departthe one that has been last mentioned, may be considered an Ger agricultural country; although mountainous on the south, large plains extend towards the north. A seventh portion of the surface is covered with vineyards, the rest is laid out in meadows and corn fields. A great part of the soil yields moderate harvests, very little good wine, but a great quantity of bad, which the inhabitants convert into brandy, inferior certainly to the brandy of Cognac, but with that exception, better than any other sort in France. The brandy still bears the name of Armagnac, an ancient province, of which the greater part forms the present department. Condom stands on the Bayse, a river which serves to Condom turn many flour mills in the vicinity; it carries on a considerable trade in leather and quills, it was formerly the seat of a diocess. Several distilleries have been built in the small towns of Cazaubon and Eauze; the name of the last was probably derived from Elusa, a city belonging to the Elusates, and the metropolis of Novempopulania, of which some vestiges are to be found in Ciutat, an adjoining hamlet. The village of Castera-Vivent is much frequented on account of the sulphureous springs near it, it is situated on the road to Auch, the ancient Climberris, the capital of the Ausci, who were subdued by Crassus. Auch is at present Auch. the chief town in the department, and the residence of an archbishop, who was formerly entitled primate of Aquitaine. Rising like an amphitheatre on the declivity of a hill, divided by the Gers into the upper and lower town, Auch consists of narrow and winding streets, but the squares and public places are built with greater regularity. The foundation of the cathedral has been attributed to Clovis ; it may be admired for the elevation of the vaulted roof, the beauty of the painted windows, which Mary of Medicis wished to remove to Paris, and the elegance of the modern BOOK CXLII. Lectoure. nac. portal, in which the Corinthian order is united with the Composite. A well built square in the upper part of the town, leads to a pleasant walk, from which the view extends to the Pyrenees; for the same walk as well as other embellishments, the inhabitants are indebted to M. Detigny, an individual to whom they have shown their gratitude by erecting a statue. Auch is the native town of the witty Roquelaure, of admiral Vilaret Joyeuse and general Dessoles. Mirande, the small capital of a poor and sterile district, is encompassed with walls. Lombes, still more insignificant, but situated in a very fruitful part of the country, has been often injured by the inundations of the Save which waters it. Fleurance, although it contains only 3000 inhabitants, is adorned with a fine market place. One may follow the windings of the Gers, traverse a fruitful country, and arrive at the height which crowns Lectoure, the birthplace of Marshal Lannes. It is not far removed from the site which has been attributed to Lactora, a city of the Lactorates. It is chiefly worthy of notice on account of the magnificent view from the Bastion, Last count now a public walk. The walls that surround it, are erectof Armaged on the place occupied by the triple enclosure, which defended it in the time of the counts d'Armagnac, but which proved no security against the vengeance of Lewis the Eleventh on the last descendant of that illustrious family. John, the fifth count, was one of those persons who scem to be impelled in the career of wickedness by an irresistible power, and whose impetuous passions render as culpable as unfortunate. The crimes of his father, for he revolted against his liege lord, might have deprived him of his dominions, had it not been for the clemency of Charles the Seventh, but the misfortunes of his family, the proscription denounced against him in carly life, were all unavailing lessons. A passion at which nature shudders, was the origin of his misfortunes. Madly attached to his sister Isabella, a lady renowned for her beauty, the publicity of their guilt brought upon him the wrath of the church; but the resentment or indignation of Rome was appeased by his feigned repentance. Lately excommunicated, hardly restored to Christian privileges, he ventured to solicit dispensations from the pope, which were peremptorily refused, but two persons suborned by the count, forged them, and the monstrous marriage was celebrated with pomp and solemnity. The chief of the church published a second and a terrible anathema against the incestuous pair. Charles employed persuasion and counsel to restore the count to reason, who repaid his kindness by joining the enemies of France. Lectoure was shortly af terwards besieged by a formidable army; Isabella fled, John could not remain without her, both hastened for protection to the King of Arragon, their relative. Love, not fear, had induced the count to fly, but singularly inconsistent in his character, he returned and appeared before the parliament that summoned him. Thrown into prison, he made his escape; proscribed, deprived of his dominions, unable to see her, whom a late but not insincere repentance rendered the most wretched of mothers, he travelled on foot as a mendicant to Rome, and implored for himself,now that his power had vanished as a dream, and for her who was bewailing her crimes in a cloister, the mercy of the holy father, an absolution was granted, but not without the most rigid conditions. Lewis the Eleventh put him again in possession of his states, and he married the daughter of the count de Foix; equally ungrateful to his new benefactor, as he was formerly to Charles the Seventh, he conspired against the throne of France. Punished a second time, driven from his dominions, he was enabled to return in consequence of new political intrigues, which he had formed with the duke of Guyenne. He became a third time an exile after the tragical death of the duke, but he made himself a third time master of his capital by ingenuity and treason, and cast Peter of Bourbon into prison, who commanded the town in the name of the King. Lewis the Eleventh had now determined to reduce the power of the great vassals, and the treason of John was not to be passed over with impunity. Tristan the hermit cardinal d'Alby and their sanguinary troops marched against Lectoure; the count defended himself bravely, and his son, the fruit of incestuous love, was slain in a sally. John despairing of success, and no match against the BOOK CXLII. BOOK CXLII. Depart- Moissac. king in the number of his men, offered to surrender on certain conditions. The conditions were excepted, the cardinal and the count took the sacrament together, and both parties swore on the altar to observe them. The troops had not been many hours in the town before all the inhabitants were put to death; the count fell by the sword, the countess far advanced in pregnancy, was compelled to swallow poison; Charles his only brother, and James d'Armagnac his cousin expiated on the scaffold the crimes of their relative. A new department, that of Tarn and Garonne was added to the others, conformably to a decree passed on the second of November 1808; it consists of different districts, which were taken from the adjoining departments. It is watered by the Aveyron, which throws itself into the Tarn below Montauban, and by the Tarn which joins the Garonne below Moissac. The Gimonne, the Rats and other streams of less consequence, which traverse it in different directions, serve to enlarge a river often liable to inundations. Fruitful and well cultivated fields are enclosed with hedges, or varied with groves of quince trees. The land produces much more wheat than the inhabitants can consume, more than half the wine is converted into brandy, and sent out of the department; the white mulberry tree affords plentiful nourishment to the silk worm, different sorts of poultry are reared in great numbers, and mules prized by the Spaniards, are exported into their country. It is pleasing to observe the reciprocal influence of agricultural and manufacturing industry, thus the consequences of the one are numerous distilleries, silk manufactories and other works of different kinds. Moissac, founded about the end of the fourth century, rises on the right bank of the Tarn, and the vessels on the river facilitate the trade with Bordeaux. Lauzerte, a small town of 5000 inhabitants, stands on a rock in a picturesque country, at the confluence of the Landou and the Barguelonne. The ancient walls and ramparts that encompassed Castel-Sarrazin are now changed into agreeable walks. |