dutchy in the fourteenth century, and the duke who fell at the battle of Cerignole, was the last descendant of the family of Armagnac. The dutchy has been perpetuated in the house of Orleans since the time of Lewis the Fourteenth. The population amounts to three thousand seven hundred inhabitants. An old castle rises above a modern bridge on the Loing, but the town is also watered by a canal, and it carries on a considerable trade in proportion to its size. The same feeder of the Seine, and the same canal water the ancient and pleasant town of Moret; but the Yonne enters the Seine about two leagues above it at Montereau-Font-Yonne, the Condate of the Gauls, so called from its situation at the confluence of two rivers; the name of Monasteriolum, which it obtained after the introduction of Christianity into the country, has been gradually corruptted into Montereau. The bridge in the town serves to recal two important events: Charles the Seventh, then dauphin, and John Sans Peur, duke of Burgundy, having agreed to meet there in the year 1419, the duke was murdered by assassins, who were suborned by Charles: it was near the same bridge that the allied armies were defeated by the French in 1814. The town possesses a considerable trade in porcelain; the population does not exceed four thousand inhabitants. BOOK CXLVI. Montereau A road from the small town of Bray-sur-Seine extends along the valley watered by the Vouzie, and leads to Pro- Provins. vins, which is called Castrum Provinum by the chroniclers of the eighth century; it is not, however, improbable that it existed in the time of the Romans. It is encompassed with old walls and ramparts; the upper town is built on a hill, and the remains of a fort that the inhabitants attribute to the Romans, rise on the summit; several monuments of the middle ages may be observed in different directions. It has of late years become a place of resort on account of a ferruginous spring. The counts of Champagne used to reside at Provins; the number of inhabitants, inconsiderable in proportion to the extent, proves that it was formerly more important than at present. Rozoy on the small river of Yeres is surrounded with ramparts shaded by lofty trees, it is adorned too by a fine Gothic church, but it is chiefly BOOK worthy of notice on account of the famous paper manufacCXLVI. tory at Courtalin, an adjoining hamlet; the waters that supply the works rise to the height of a hundred and sixty feet. Corn and leather are the principal articles of trade at Coulomiers, the small capital of a subprefecture. Department of Oise. Senlis. Before we leave the department of Seine and Marne, it may be remarked that it abounds in corn and wine, that more sheep are reared in it than in many others, and that it derives great advantages from numerous means of communication. The department of Oise is more populous, and almost as productive in corn, but it does not yield a fifth part of the wine; the inhabitants rear a great many sheep, like all the departments that surround Paris, it is intersected. by numerous roads. Crepy or Crespy is finely situated in e valley watered by two streams, which flow through the town, once more flourishing than at present, it was defended by a castle now in ruins. The old walls are flanked with bastions, the number of inhabitants does not amount to more than two thousand. An excellent road communicates with Senlis, which the Romans called Augustomagus. and where the remains of the fortifications that they raised, are still apparent. It obtained afterwards the name of Silvanectes, probably on account of the forests with which it was surrounded. It rises on the declivity of a hill, and the Nonette waters the base. The most of the streets are narrow and crooked; the cathedral may be remarked for the lightness of the Gothic architecture, and the height of the steeple. The water in the small river is supposed to possess a peculiar quality, which renders it better adapted than any other for washing wool; the fact may be doubtful, but it must be admitted that many persons are employed in that branch of industry. There are not fewer than two hundred and fifty workmen in the cotton manufactories; the printfields furnish occupation to more than two hundred, and the making of flour and other substances from potatoes to a hundred and fifty. The forests of Hallate Ermonville, Pontarmé and Chantilly are situated in the neighbourhood, and the numerous streams in the large park of Mortefontaine add to the beauty of the BOOK country. Ermonville still recals the philosopher of Geneva, and associations connected with the great Condé give CXLVI. additional interest to Chantilly. The magnificent castle, the residence of the hero, was destroyed at the revolution, and while the men were demolishing the chapel, they found the remains of Coligny, whose body was secretly transported from the gibbet of Montfaucon to the domain which then belonged to the house of Montmorency. The small castle and the principal stables remain entire, the latter are the finest buildings of the kind in France. The burgh might be more correctly denominated a town, it carries on a trade in porcelain, blond and lace. Creil is situated on the left Creil. bank of the Oise, it may be mentioned on account of porcelain works, in which more than nine hundred persons are employed. Montataire is situated in a fruitful valley, and watered by the Therain, it supplies many places with iron, and the machinery in the works is moved by the river., It was an ancient village, the church rises on an eminence, Peter the Hermit preached in it, and maintained the necessity of the first crusade. The country round Creil may be remarked for the industry of the inhabitants; in a space not greater than four leagues long by two in breadth, there are a hundred and seventy-nine manufactories and eight thousand workmen; the annual proceeds of their labour represent a value equivalent to 16,000,000 of franks. On the supposition that industry was as much diffused over the rest of France, the number of workmen in the kingdom might amount to 24,000,000, while the products of their labour would indicate a value equal to 48,000,000,000 franks, or L.2,000,000,000. Pont-Sainte-Maxence on the Oise is the only other town of any consequence in the district of Senlis; the bridge on the river was constructed by Peyronnet, it is supported by detached columns, and adorned by obelisks at the four extremities. It is affirmed that Compiegne was a town in the time of Compiegne the Romans, that they called it Compendium, because it contained ammunition or military stores. A Roman way, incorrectly denominated the Chaussée de Brunehault, crosses the forests in the neighbourhood, and attests the ancient origin of the town. But Compiegne did not become a place of BOOK CXLVI, Noyon. Clermont. importance before the time of Charles the Bald. Lewis the Fair and Lewis the Faineant were buried in the church of Saint Corneille; Pepin the Bref placed in the same church the first organ that was seen in France, he received it from Constantine the Sixth. The royal castle is a large edifice, it was rebuilt by Lewis the Fifteenth, finished by Lewis the Sixteenth, and embellished by Napoleon. There are several fine buildings in the town, but the streets are for the most part narrow and crooked. It was formerly surrounded with walls; the English besieged it in 1430, and Joan of Arc was there taken prisoner. A treaty of alliance between France and Holland was concluded at Compiegne by Cardinal Richelieu in 1624. Noyon is without doubt a place of greater antiquity, the Romans changed its Celtic name into Noviomagus; it was the seat of a diocess in the time of Charlemagne, who was crowned in the town; the same monarch finished the cathedral, which was begun by Pepin the Bref. Noyon is the birthplace of Calvin the reformer, and of Sarrazin, a celebrated statuary of the sixteenth century. Because the castle of Clermont-Oise stands on the summit of a hill, and the town on the base, it has been conIcluded that it was built by the Romans, although the ancient castle does not in any way resemble a Roman edifice. It is at present chiefly remarkable for the beauty of the surrounding country. Philip the Fair was born in the town, but it is more renowned as having been the birthplace of the celebrated Cassini. It was in the thirteenth century the capital of a county, which Saint Lewis gave to his son Robert, the founder of the house of Bourbon. A religious ceremony was formerly observed on the anniversary of Saint Jengou, the tutelar saint of easy husbands; it has been discontinued probably on account of the additional number of good wives; at all events the moral improvement of the inhabitants may be attributed to the progress of industry. The memory of the duke De Liancourt is revered in the country; the population in the small village from which he derived his title, was equal a few years ago to eight hundred inhabitants, it exceeds at present thirteen hundred. Liancourt is about a league and a half from Clermont, and the small manufactories in other places in the neighbourhood afford the means of subsistence to laborious inhabitants. BOOK CXLVI. The same industry and activity are observable in the Beauvais. villages round Beauvais, indeed more than three hundred workmen are employed in the burgh of Bresle. The ancient capital of the small country formerly inhabited by the Bellovaci, was called Bellovacum before it received the name of Cæsaro-Magus. The streets are sufficiently broad, but many of the houses are built of wood. The choir of the cathedral is complete, the nave and other parts of the building are still unfinished. The old ramparts have been changed into public walks; the English besieged it without success in 1445, and Charles, duke of Burgundy, was not more fortunate in 1472. The latter siege is mentioned in history on account of the noble resistance of the inhabitants; they were not dismayed by an army of eighty thousand men, and the women sought the honour of defending the breach; under the conduct of Joan Fouquet or Laine, surnamed the Hatchet, they fought with as much intrepidity as the men. A Burgundian soldier had planted a standard on the wall, but Joan vanquished him, and carried away the trophy; the action is represented in a picture which decorates the townhouse. The siege was raised in the month of July; to commemorate the event, a procession went forth every year in the same month, and the women took precedence of the men; the ceremony was abolished at the revolution. Beauvais is a place of considerable trade, it has cloth, carpet and cotton manufactories. It has given birth to Philip de Villers, to Del' Ile-Adam, great master of the order of Malta, to Restaut the grammarian, to the abbé Dubos, to Herman and Valliant, two distinguished antiquarians. Seine and The Oise enters the department of Seine and Oise, a Departshort way above the village of Noisy. Beaumont, the first ment of town through which it flows, contains two thousand inhabi- Oise. tants; it rises on a chalky height, and commands a view of the plain which extends on the right bank of the river. The small and agreeable town of Luzarches is about a league distant from the abbey of Royaumont, an abbey |