in the department, and iron ore is converted into cast iron and bars. Angouleme rises on a hill, which may be seen from a great distance; the air is pure and salubrious; several of the inhabitants attain to a great age, and the women are distinguished for their beauty. The Quartier-Neuf is the only one worthy of notice; ill-built houses, crooked and narrow streets make up the rest of the town. The suburbs of Ousmeau stands on a declivity above the Charente, the inhabitants have erected several paper mills, distilleries and sugar works, they manufacture woollen stuffs, porcelain and earthen ware. It is the capital of the department, and also the seat of a diocess. It was once fortified, but the ramparts have been changed into public walks, that rise in the form of terraces, and command an extensive horizon bounded by heights; the most remarkable objects in the view are the small river of Anguienne, that winds along rich meadows and fruitful hills, the fine bridge over the Charente, and the obelisk raised by government to the present dutchess of Angouleme. Within the same town are contained a royal naval school, a college, a library and a museum of natural history: it was the birthplace of Balzac, Montalembert the engineer, and the assassin of Henry the Fourth. It is a place of great antiquity, the Romans called it Iculisma, it is more than once mentioned by Ausonius, but it did not rise into importance before the period of the middle ages. Larochefoucault, a small town on the Tardouere, consists of a single street, it contains 3000 inhabitants. The old Gothic castle which commands it, was the birthplace of the duke, whose fame has been perpetuated by his book of maxims. BOOK CXLIII. Angouleme Confolans, surrounded by a comparatively sterile coun- Confolans. try, the capital of a subprefecture, which derives its name. from the confluence of the Goire and the Vienne, is not, however, unpleasantly situated, and the banks of both the rivers are fruitful in pastures. A square turret in the neighbourhood is all that remains of a strong castle. It is necessary to cross the Charente at two places on the road that leads from Confolans to the small and neat town of Ruffec, that rises on the right bank of the same river. A BOOK CXLIII. Jarnac. Cognac. Department of Lower small chain of hills terminates on the south at the neighbourhood of the Charente, which describes many windings through large meadows. The same river waters Jarnac, houses are built on both the banks, and it possesses a harbour of some importance. A modern monument erected on the plain, serves to mark the field of battle, where the duke d'Anjou defeated the prince of Condé in the year 1569. As it has been thought consistent with good taste to commemorate the fatal engagement in which Frenchmen fought against each other, the place near the walls of the town, where the unfortunate prince was assassinated by the marquis of Montesquiou after the victory, ought also to have been indicated. Cognac, the capital of the same district, rises on an eminence, of which the base is watered by the Charente. Francis the First was born in the old castle that defended formerly this commercial city, the mart of the excellent brandy and liqueurs that are distilled in the adjoining districts. Barbezieux in the middle of the fruitful country through which the Ne flows, is neither so populous nor so well built as Cognac, it rises on the declivity of a hill, on the high road from Paris to Bordeaux; the ancient fortress has been changed into a prison. The trade it carries on with the metropolis, consists chiefly in capons and truffles. Aubeterre on the Dronne, at the southern extremity of the department, is finely situated at the base of a hill, commanded by an ancient castle. The church is cut in the rock which supports part of the town. The lower part of the Charente, waters a country fruitful in corn, and abounding in vineyards of which the Charente. produce is converted into brandy. The mouth of the Gironde, and a great extent of coast tend to enrich a laborious population. There are not many inequalities in the department, all the hills are low, and the extensive plains are salubrious. But the saline marshes near the sea, which furnish the salt known in England by the name of Rochelle salt, diffuse pestilential exhalations, and occasion different diseases. Many anchorages and ports facilitate navigation, promote the coasting trade, and induce companies or individuals to equip vessels for the cod fish CXLIII. eries and the French colonies. Lastly, the islands of Ré, BOOK Oleron and Aix add to the maritime importance of the department. Jonzac is situated in part of the country contiguous to the last department; it is the chief town in an ill-peopled district, inferior in size to the burgh of Mirambeau, which contains 3200 inhabitants. Saintes, the capital of Sain- Saintes. tonge, is an old and probably on that account, a dirty town. Ammianus Marcelinus considered it the most flourishing city in Aquitaine. It was called Mediolanum, the Romans changed it afterwards into Santones, after the name of the people in that part of Gaul. It possesses still the remains of a triumphal arch, and the ruins of an amphitheatre. It was the seat of a diocess, and several councils have been held in the town. The last met in the year 1096, and enjoined the faithful to fast during the vigils of the apostles. The residence of the subprefect, the theatre, the college, and the ancient cathedral cannot be commended on account of their architecture; the public library contains 24,000 volumes. Bernard de Palissy was born at Saintes, a man of genius, who from the condition of a potter became one of the most eminent natural philosophers of the sixteenth century. The Boutonne, a small river begins to be navigable at Saint-Jean d'Angely, and enables the industrious inhabitants to carry on a trade in brandy and timber. Religious wars were long fatal to the town, indeed they may be said to have been so from the period of the memorable siege by which it fell into the hands of Henry the Third, to the time it supported another siege against Lewis the Thirteenth, who razed the fortifications. The second Henry de Bourbon Condè, and Regnaud, a statesman under the imperial government, were born in St. Jean d'Angely. It possesses a royal powder manufactory. The horses in the neighbourhood are much valued in different parts of France. Maremmes, about half a league distant from the sea, is exposed to the pernicious exhalations from the salt marshes. Although a well built and a commercial town, it might have been much more flourishing than at present, had it not been for its unhealthy situation. Ton BOOK CXLIII. Rochefort. Rochelle. nay-Charente possesses a safe and commodious harbour for vessels of a hundred tons. Rochefort rises on the Charente about a league's distance from the last place; the harbour, one of the three largest in France, may be about 2500 yards in length, it contains a sufficient quantity of water to float ships of the line at low tide. Ships of 600 tons with their cargoes, enter a smaller harbour adapted for merchant vessels. Rochefort is nearly four leagues distant from the ocean, but the advantages of an admirable position are increased by large dockyards, careening wharfs, naval storehouses, cordage and sail manufactories. The town is regularly built, the streets are straight, many of them terminate in a large piece of ground planted with trees. The hospital, the prison in which 2400 galley-slaves may be confined, the cannon foundery and the arsenal are the finest buildings. A reservoir enables the inhabitants to water the streets daily, a precaution by so much the more necessary as from the month of August to October, the air of Rochefort is any thing but salubrious. The works that defend it are the ramparts by which it is surrounded, and the forts raised at the embouchure of the Charente. An excellent road leads to Rochelle, the capital of the department. The last town was founded in the tenth century. Philip Augustus conferred several privileges on the inhabitants; it was ceded to the English by the treaty of Bretigny. Charles the Fifth contrived to add it to his dominions; the political divisions to which the reformation gave so much weight, rendered it the centre of protestant opposition, it was then besieged by Lewis the Thirteenth, and taken after a resistance of 13 months, a resistance which cost the king more than L.2,000,000. Situated on a gulf, the harbour is safe and commodious; whatever be the height of the waters in the ocean, vessels may be careened in the basin, in which they receive their cargoes. The fortifications were constructed by Vauban. Straight streets, many houses adorned with porticos that form arcades, the elegant court of the castle, the exchange and the townhouse give the place an imposing aspect. It is the native town of Reaumur, Seignette the druggist, who discovered the pur BOOK gative salt that bears his name, and of several distinguished men. It is not remarkable, therefore, to find it the seat of CXLIII. learned and scientific societies; it possesses a valuable library, a museum of natural history, a botanical garden, and a school of navigation. The Mail, a public walk, commands a view of the occan; from it may be seen the isle, of Re on the right, peopled by fishermen, and encompassed with breakers. Aix, where vessels wait for favourable winds, rises in front, and the important Oleron on the left, an island abounding in wine and salt. Marans, a small but neat town at the northern extremity of the department carries on a trade in salt, and contains four thousand inhabitants; it has a safe harbour on the Sevre-Niortaise at the distance of four miles from the sea, to which vessels of a hundred tons are borne by the tides. ment of The Vendée, the largest feeder of the Sevre-Niortaise, Departis only navigable in a short part of its course, not more than Vendée. six leagues in length. At the time France was divided according to the pew divisions, the same river was chosen rather than the Lay, the last is certainly larger, but the name of La Vendee was given to one of the most fruitful maritime departments-to one which by its devotedness to the royal cause, became at the revolution the focus of a civil war, that lasted not less than seven years, and desolated almost all the eastern part of France. The soil may be divided into three kinds. The Marais comprehends all the country on the coast, it is covered with sands which have been rendered productive by canals and the labour of man; it abounds also in marshes, which from their extent and the quantity of salt collected from them, seem to indicate that the ocean covered these coasts at a comparatively recent period. The Bocage consists in some places of sterile heaths, but in others of woods or lands that numerous streams serve to water and fructify. The Plain formed by all the country between the Bocage and the southern limit of the department, may be considered the most fertile and the best adapted for every sort of cultivation. The mephitic vapours that rise from the Marais, are fatal to the health of the inhabitants; drained or intersected by many canals, destitute of springs, only afford |