was beheaded, because he chose to die rather than betray his friend. BOOK CXLV. Historical Lyons is connected with many historical events; it was there that Pertinax died; Albinus and Severus contended recollecfor the empire, and the town declared for the former, tions. opened its gates to him after his defeat, and was leveled with the ground by the victor; a hundred and fifty years elapsed before it rose from its ruins. It formed a part of the Burgundian kingdom during the fifth century. It was at one time subject to the kings of France, at another under the power of its archbishops, but it was taken from the latter by Guy, count of Forez. After many wars between the descendants of the count and the clergy, the latter recovered their authority; but the town was not more fortunate, for the canons of Lyons assumed the title of counts, and the people had to submit to a double tyranny-the arrogance of the nobility, and the rapacity of the church. Lewis the Gros by introducing the municipal system into his dominions, rendered the sword and mitre less oppressive. It might be shown indeed that the effects of the change were felt at Lyons before the town was added to the monarchy. But during a hundred years after the same period, the archbishops continued their depredations, and the people were frequently excited to revolt; at last Saint-Lewis declared himself the arbiter of the scandalous exactions on the part of the church, and of the resistance which such proceedings rendered lawful on the part of the people; by the decision of the same. prince, Lyons was included within the dominions of the crown. From that epoch the citizens had the right of electing their own magistrates, of controlling and keeping their accounts; lastly, no burgess could be cited in judgment beyond the walls of the town. It was at the general council held at Lyons in 1245, that the cardinals by an order of Pope Innocent the Fourth, clothed themselves for the first time in scarlet. This wealthy city was destroyed in 1793 by the revolutionary army after a siege of sixty-five days, because the inhabitants attempted to free themselves from popular tyranny. Two deputies of the convention at the head of sixty thousand men could not BOOK CXLV. Industry. Edifices. effect a capitulation until the town was bombarded, until the besieged had suffered all the horrors of famine. The principal edifices were demolished, and in conformity to a decree, the town was called Ville-Affranchie. Cruel mockery, worthy of the period, the anarchy-men confounded freedom with the work of destruction! The commercial prosperity of Lyons dates from the reign of Francis the First; the inhabitants learnt from the Genoese the art of manufacturing silk. The town contained about forty years ago 180,000 individuals, and there were not fewer than 18,000 looms, which were annually supplied with 12,000 hundred-weights of raw materials. In consequence of the acts of the Convention, the population was greatly diminished; and it appears indeed that in 1802 the number of looms was reduced to seven hundred. When France by colossal strides extended her frontiers from the Tiber to the Elbe, Lyons became again an important manufacturing town; still, however, the population is not so great as it once was, for with the suburbs of Vaise, Croix-Rousse and Guillotiere, it amounts only to 172,000 persons; but it may be observed that the manufactures have increased since the time that silks were generally worn. The number of looms is equal to nearly twenty thousand, manual labour has been abridged by improved machinery, and the products of each workman are greater. Thus, with a diminished population it manufactures more than it did forty years ago; and as the inhabitants consume much more, the revenue has increased in proportion, according to the last accounts it exceeds 3,120,000 franks, or L.130,000.. The Lyonese allow that their town is very dirty, but they insist that the edifices are very magnificent; as if fine buildings were in good keeping with filthy streets. The time in which the cathedral was founded, has not been ascertained, it may be admired for the imposing simplicity of the interior, and the richness of the portal. The palace of the archbishops was built in the reign of Lewis the Thirteenth in point of size it might serve as a residence to kings. Two edifices are situated in the quarter of Saint-Clair-the most fashionable part of Lyons; they rise at no great distance from each other; the one or the Great Theatre reflects the highest credit on the architectural talent of the celebrated Soufflot, the second or the town-house, if one only be excepted, may be allowed to be the finest in Europe. Within the chamber of commerce and arts are the exchange together with the collections of paintings and antiquities, an union descriptive of the character of the people, who estimate the arts and sciences only inasmuch as they may be made subservient to trade and industry. The ancient convent of the Trinity has been changed into a royal college, it contains the most valuable provincial library in France, a library consisting of a hundred and six thousand volumes and eight hundred manuscripts in different languages. BOOK CXLV. societies. In Lyons, as well as in other places, the desire of know- Scientific ledge has increased of late years, it is to be hoped that it may become still more general, that it may extend to every class of the community. The wealthy by diffusing the blessings of education, have it in their power to confer the greatest benefits on the poorer citizens, and to secure the prosperity of their town, for the concomitants of dif fused knowledge are additional industry, improvements of every sort, public tranquillity and public happiness. There are at present in Lyons a society of agriculture and natural history, another of medicine, and a third of pharmacy, a Linnaen society, and a royal academy of sciences, arts and belles lettres. Among the schools and places of education, we may mention one of rural economy and the veterinary art, another of arts and trades, and a third of drawing; public lectures are besides delivered on natural history, chemistry, geometry and physics. institutions The beneficent institutions attest that in Lyons at least, Charitable philanthropy is not an empty sound, a word void of meaning. The infirmary is the best institution of the kind in France. Fourteen hundred children are admitted every year into an hospital, in which four times that number are educated and maintained. A religious house has been set apart for such as are afflicted with the loss of reason, and in another building the best means are provided for the instruction of the deaf and dumb; in addition to these BOOK CXLV. Celebrated men. Department of Ain. places may be mentioned a savings-bank for the whole department, together with different friendly and benevolent societies. The names of all the distinguished men that have been born at Lyons since the most remote times to the present, might form a long list. Germanicus, Claudius, MarcusAurelius, Caracalla, Geta, the bishop Sidonius Apollinaris, Peter Valdo the reformer, Philibert Delorme the architect of the Tuilleries, Coustou and Coysevox the celebrated statuaries, Anthony de Jussieu the botanist, Morellet the political economist, Rozier, a writer on agriculture, Patrin the natural historian, and Marshal Suchet are the most remarkable persons whose names occur at present to our recollection. The minute description which such a city as Lyons requires, may be apt to make us forget that there are other places in the neighbourhood. The people of Saint-GenisLaval manufacture oil, different colours and banners; the pictures with which they supply several churches, may with equal accuracy be denominated manufactures. Arbresle is situated at the confluence of the Brevanne and the Tardine; the town was completely destroyed by inundations in 1715, but it was soon afterwards rebuilt; the inhabitants carry on a considerable trade in lint. The course of the Rhone on the east and the south, and the Saone on the west, form the limits of the department which the Ain waters from north to south. The last river divides it into two regions: the eastern on the right consists of an undulating ridge, in which the lands are argillaceous and in many places humid and marshy; the western on the left is covered with heights about 2,600 or 3000 feet in elevation, they are attached to the Alps by the chain of Jura. The same country is watered by impetuous torrents, and intersected by deep vallies, almost all of which extend from north to south. In the first region, agriculture forms the principal occupation of the inhabitants, and the harvests are sufficient for the consumption; the people in the second cultivate fruitful vallies, rear a great number of sheep and horses, work iron and different quar ries that afford excellent materials for building, and the best BOOK lithographic stones in France. CXLV. Trevoux. Few cities of any importance are situated in the department. Trevoux, built like an amphitheatre on the left bank of the Saone, is the capital of a district, in which the principal places are Montluel, a town of three thousand eight hundred inhabitants, many of whom are employed in manufacturing cloth, and Thoissy, the birthplace of the celebrated Bichat. The small but neat town of Pont-de-Vaux on the banks of the Ressouse, communicates with the Saone by means of a canal; the inhabitants have erected a fountain in the form of a pyramid to the memory of General Joubert, their townsman. Bourg-en-Bresse, so called from the name Bourg-enof the ancient province of which it was the capital, is at present the chief town in the department. It rises on the site of Tanus, which was founded about the end of the fourth century; it is well built, watered by fountains, and embellished with agreeable walks on the Ressouse and the Veyle; its commerce might be greatly improved if it were within reach of navigable rivers. It has given birth to two great men, Vaugelas and Lalande. Bresse. The districts of Belley and Nantua, or the territory between the Rhone and the Ain, were formerly called Bugey, a country connected with ancient recollections, and abounding in picturesque sites. Polybius was of opinion that this small region might be termed the Celtic Delta, a name to which it is still entitled from its triangular form. Belley or the capital existed at the time that Brennus Belley. undertook his expedition against Rome, and was destroyed by the barbarians, who fled at the approach of the fierce Gaul; it did not become a place of importance until the country was conquered by the Romans. The ancient names of Belley are Bellitium, Bellicum and Bellica. Alaric burnt it in the year 390; twenty years afterwards it was rebuilt and enlarged by his nephew Wibert. It was destroyed a second time by fire in 1385; but Amadeus the Seventh, count of Savoy, repaired it and encompassed it with walls. The small village of Frebuge near Nantua, is the Forum Sebusianum, once the principal city of the Sebusiani, but it has been confounded by some authors with |