BOOK CXLV. Montbrison Roanne. wealthy and the idle, there the population decreases incessantly, and all the mendicants in Forex resort to it !"" Saint-Etienne contains a royal armoury, forty in which arms of every sort are made, fifty-five places in which hardwares and cutlery are wrought, a hundred and fifty ribbon and velvet manufactories. Montbrison might rival it both in trade and in manufactures, for the Vizezy which flows through the town, furnishes enough of water to move the most important works. But the inhabitants do not devote themselves to any branch of industry, and the town is illpeopled and ill-built. The only edifice to which any additions have lately been made, is the royal college; it is unnecessary to add that these additions were made by government. Many suppose that the present town was founded in the twelfth century by Brison, who gave it the Latin name of Mons-Brisonis. The mineral waters are held in great reputation, and several remains of antiquity prove that they were not unknown to the Romans. It was from the summit of the volcanic rock which commands Montbrison, that the sanguinary baron of Adrets precipitated the catholics who were taken prisoners during the civil wars. The small town of Saint-Galmier carries on a trade in wax-lights for the use of churches; it stands on an eminence not far from the Croize. A mineral spring rises from a rock near the town, and the waters that issue from it, have a strong vinous flavour. Feurs is situated on the road between Thiers and Lyons, it is the Forum Segusianorum, the ancient capital of the Segusiani, the name was afterwards extended to the province of Forez. The Gand flows below the small town of Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay, a place of some importance from its trade and manufactures. It is situated in the district of Roanne, an ancient town which Ptolemy calls Rodumna, but it became a mere village about the commencement of the eighteenth century; the industry of the inhabitants has since restored it to something like its former rank, it is at present well built, and the population amounts to more than eight thousand individuals. Some Roman monuments have resisted the vicissitudes of time and barbarism. If there is any department in France, which may be said to prove the superiority of manufacturing over agricultural BOOK CXLV. industry, it is certainly the department of the Rhone. The Depart Rhone. soil, intersected by hills and valleys, is not very fruitful; it ment of the does not yield one half of the grain or timber necessary for the consumption. But if the harvests are scanty, the vineyards are productive, and the wines of an excellent quality; the best are those of Cote Rotie and Condriex. Artificial meadows afford pasture to many herds of oxen, to flocks of sheep and goats. It would be incorrect to ascribe the deficiency in corn to the negligence of the husbandman; on the contrary, he appears to derive from the fields all the profit that can be obtained from them. The flourishing state of the country must be attributed to its manufactories; indeed if the department of Nord be excepted, there is no other in France, which contains so great a population relatively to the surface, for the mean number of inhabitants on every square league is equal to two thousand nine hundred and fifty-four. Copper and coal, the most valuable substances on the heights are the materials with which the numerous foundries are supplied. The population of Tarare does not exceed seven thou- Tarare. sand inhabitants, it contains, however, not fewer than sixtyfive muslin manufactories, and twenty-five of embroidered work; the latter are the first of the kind that were established in France, they afford employment at present to more than fifty thousand workmen, who are scattered in different districts. The town stands at the foot of a hill which bears its name, and on the left bank of the Tardine, a small river that sometimes inundates the neighbouring fields, but the devastations thus occasioned, are amply redeemed by the advantages the manufacturer derives from it. Thizy and Amplepuis rival each other in their cotton manufactures. The village of Tours carries on a trade in the mixed stuffs, with which it supplies different departments, they are made of linen and cotton, and known in France by the name of beaujolaises. Beaujeu is certainly a small town, but it is well-built, and finely situated on the Ardiere, at the base of a hill overtopped by the ruins of the strong castle that belonged to the BOOK CXLV. Ville Franche. Lyons. lords of Beaujeu. It possesses several paper mills, and carries on no inconsiderable trade in wine. The same trade and the sale of embroidered works tend to enrich Bellevillesur-Saone. The two last towns contain nearly an equal number of inhabitants, the population of each amounts at least to three thousand individuals. Ville-Franche, the capital of the wealthy district in which they are situated, consists of a broad street about a mile and a half in length, and of houses grouped round it, which form the suburbs. The lands watered by the Saone and the Morgon are very fruitful; the neighbouring hills are covered with vineyards. It must be admitted, however, that the picturesque scenery round Ville-Franche has not been much improved by cultivation; as a manufacturing town, it is a place of considerable importance. The village of Chessy near the left bank of the Arbresle, is about three leagues on the south of it; it contains six hundred inhabitants, and it is well known on account of the most productive copper mines in France. Lyons is remarkable for the beauty of its situation, for the view which the country houses in the neighbourhood command, for the four suburbs and twenty quays on the Saone and Rhone. The gentle movements of the first river and the rapidity of the second form a striking contrast. The Saone offers an emblem of peace-favourable to the arts, to commerce and to industry; vessels are continually sailing up and down its streams, and seventeen harbours are situated on its banks. The Rhone, emblematic of war and civil discord, is an impetuous torrent which the temerity of man does not always brave with impunity; the loud noise of its waters is the only sound that can be heard on the dismal and deserted banks. Other and less pleasing contrasts may be observed in the same town; there are not fewer than fifty-six squares, in almost all of them rubbish and filth are heaped round sumptuous monuments. The two hundred and forty-five streets are ill-paved, narrow and dirty; and as rain is of frequent occurrence they are very often wet. All the inhabitants must be indifferent about the cleanliness of their town, otherwise the same filth could not be seen near mean shops, costly warehouses, the humble abode of the artisan, and the habitation of the wealthy merchant. The canuts or silk weavers prepare in their smoky garrets light crapes, brilliant satins and pliable tafetas of the freshest colours; no sooner have they been taken from their dirty hands, than they are sent to Paris, where they assume the various shapes that fashion renders indispensable. BOOK CXLV. Lyons or rather Lugdunum was one of the principal ci- Origin and antiquity. ties in the dominions of the Segusiani at the time that Cæsar took it from the Gauls. About forty years before the vulgar era Munatius Plancus received instructions from the Roman senate to allow the people of Vienne, who had been driven from their town by the Allobroges to settle in Lugdunum. It became not long afterwards one of the most flourishing Roman settlements in France; Strabo says that it was only inferior in population to Narbonne. The importance and the admirable position of the town rendered. it frequently the residence of the governors of Gaul. It was first built on the declivity of a hill, which rises on the right bank of the Saone; it was embellished by many noble monuments, but they were all destroyed by fire in a single night. This disastrous event, of which history affords fortunately but few examples, happened in the year 59 of the Christian era, during the reign of Nero, by whom it was rebuilt. It does not require a minute examination of ancient edifices to be convinced that the Romans knew well how to avail themselves of the inequalities on the ground, indeed their towns had an air of majesty, which we look for in vain in modern cities. The palace of the emperors rose on the hill of Saint-Just, where the monastery of Antiquaile, now changed into an hospital for Incurables, was afterwards built. The name of the convent appears to have been derived from the number of medals and other antiquities, which were discovered in digging the foundation. An amphitheatre was erected on the same height, and some remains of it are still seen in the gardens round the convent of the Minims. The waters of the Rhone and the small river Furaut were conveyed by means of an aqueduct at least two leagues in length, to different parts of the town. Sixty Gallic nations raised at the confluence BOOK CXLV. Squares. But of the Saone and Rhone an altar to Augustus, of which In the time of the Romans, Bella-Curia was the name of the place, from which the pretor pronounced his decrees, it is at present the square of Bellecour. The elegant buildings which adorned it, were demolished by a furious conventionalist, they were raised anew by Napolcon. It forms a regular square, and the fronts of two very large edifices supported by pilasters and surmounted by ballustrades, make up the greater part of two opposite sides; the houses are shaded by lime trees. The hill of Fourviere is situated within the original enclosure of the Forum Vetus, or according to some antiquaries, the Forum Veneris that Trajan erected. The hill was called after the forum, and an ancient building on it was consecrated to the catholic worship by Pius the Seventh during his short residence in the town in 1805. The square of Terreaux may recall events of a different nature, events that have left an indelible stain on the page of history; there Cinq-Mars suffered death for having attempted a change in the administration of his country, or rather for having united with some others against the proud and vindictive minister of Lewis the Thirteenth; there too the virtuous president De Thou |