Hotels.-Du Soleil Levant (Rising Sun).

Population, 9,800. An ancient town, and capital of department Manche, once the seat of a bishopric, founded by St. Laudus, 549. It stands in a pretty spot, on a rock by the Vire. The Normans destroyed it, in 890, but afterwards restored it, though it was almost ruined again, in 1346, by Edward IV., who took it by storm.

The Cathedral Church of Nôtre Dame is on the hill, near Petite Place; it is chiefly Gothic, of the 12th cent., with two good tall spires in its west front, which is of later date. A stone pulpit stands outside. Another church, St. Croix, in the early Norman style, replaces one attached to the abbey, founded by Charlemagne, about 810, when the town was walled round and improved. There is a salle de spectacle, also public baths, a museum of antiquities, a library of 4,500 volumes, &c. A Roman stone, called the Marbre de Torigni, which was till lately to be seen at the Hôtel de Ville, is now at Caen.

Lace, ribbons, and cloth are made; and the trade is in grain, cattle, poultry, butter, cider, fruit, &c., and cavalry horses, which are bred at the haras, near St. Croix.

Conveyances to Coutances, Granville, &c. [COUTANCES, 27 kil. west-south-west, formerly Constantia, a sous-préfecture and bishopric, on a hill, 7 kil. from the sea, to which the Soule river or canal runs. Pop. 8,100. It has a beautiful Gothic Cathedral, with two west spires, clustered pillars in the nave (which is 100 feet high), and an octagon lantern, which commands a view of the sea and Channel Islands.

Other buildings, are the churches of St. Nicholas and St. Peter, the library of 4,500 volumes, the theatre, the Hôtel Dieu, &c. Near the Palais de Justice is a bronze figure of Prince Lebrun, arch-treasurer under Napoleon. There are remains of the fortifications, and part of an

aqueduct, called Les Pilliers, from the columns which it rests on. Parchment, cloth &c., are made. Hotel.-De France.

In the neighbourhood are, the Pont-de-la-Roque, St. Gerbold's hermitage, the castles of Regneville, Lithenaire, Mauny, Gavray, the abbeys of Blanchelande and Hambye-the latter founded by the Paganels, who settled in England at the Conquest, and gave name to Newport Pagnell. VILLEBAUDON (19 kil.), at the head of the Soule. PERCY (6 kil.), was the seat of William de Percy. who went over to England with the Conqueror; and, being surnamed Alsgernon (or whiskered), Algernon has always been a favourite name in that noble family.

VILLEDIEUX-LES-PELES (9 kil.), where the roads to Vire (see Route 17) and Granville part off, has been noted for its manufactures of copper goods from a very ancient date.

At 28 kil. west, is

GRANVILLE, on the cliffs, in sight of the Channel Islands, with a good sized, but shallow, harbour, inside a fine mole, well fortified. The Vendeans tried to take it in 1793. Its old Gothic Church has carvings in granite, and a spire, 312 feet above the sea. The people (10,000) are pilots, fishermen, boat-builders, and carry on a trade in grain, cider, salt, &c. There is a light on Cape Lihou, 154 feet above the sea.

J. Turnbull, Esq., is the English consul. High water at full and change, 6h. 30m., the tide setting in with dangerous swiftness. A steamer comes from Jersey every Monday morning (on the arrival of that from Southampton), and returns on Tuesday, in turn with that to St. Malo. It passes the Chausée, Minquières, and other shoals, which abound here.]

AVRANCHES (22 kil.), Near St. Michael's Bay, on the sea coast, is a souspréfecture of 8,950 inhabitants, many of whom are English, who settle here for economy and the pleasantness of its situation among the hills. Romans called it Abrinca Ingence, and it was fortified by St. Louis.

The

St. Andre's Cathedral church, built about 1120, by Henry II. of England, was pulled down at the Revolution. A statue of Valhubert, a native, who fell at Austerlitz, stands in the bishop's garden. The public Library of 15,000 vols., has also 200 MSS. (including one of Abélard's, which M. Cousin published in 1836), and a Museum. A fine view from the Jardin des Plantes.

Hotel.-De Londres.

Trade in grain, cider, hops, &c.

Conveyances-Daily, to Caen, Cherbourg, Rennes, Granville, Mortain, St. Malo.

(The famous Mont St. Michel (16 kil. south-west), in name, appearance, and history, is very like St. Michael's Mount, in Cornwall. It is a heap of rugged granite, very steep on the north side, but sloping on the east and south, where the people (300), with their little gardens scraped from the rocks, live round the old Abbey, now a convict prison. The beach below it is a shelly sand, completely covered at high water, but a causeway leads out to it when the tide is low, from Ardevon, where guides may be hired. The Druids had a station here, which the early Christians used as a hermitage, and afterwards turned into a monastery, of which the remains are still picturesque. The great door is flanked by two solid towers; on the north side is a part called La Merveille, or the Wonder, including the large Montgomery rooms, the refectory (90 feet long, a good specimen of Gothic), the hall of the Chevaliers (nearly as long), the cloister, the well preserved choir of the church, and the crypt below, resting on great pillars of granite.]

ROUTES TO THE WEST, VIÂ THE CHEMIN DE FER DE L'OUEST.

ROUTE 15.

Paris, to Versailles, Chartres, Le Mans,

Alençon, Rennes, and Brest.

By rail to Rennes, opened 1857. Distance 2321 miles, or 374 kil. Embarcadères, as the traveller may prefer; either 24, Boulevard Mont Parnasse, for the rive gauche (or left bank of the Seine); or 24, Rue St. Lazaire, for the rive droite (or right bank). The first reaches Versailles by Bellevue; the second by St. Cloud. Omnibuses to all the trains. Four trains a day to Rennes, in 9 to 13 hours.

Trains to Versailles every hour, in twenty to thirtyfive minutes; 1 and 1 fr. Versailles Park and the Trianons are open daily; the museum every day, except Thursday and Friday.

palace of the older kings at Issy. Here the first French opera, the Pastorale, was acted in 1653. Van vres château is a work of Mansard's.

Clamart-sous-Meudon (5 kil.), near Meudon forest. A little further is Pont-du-Val viaduct, on a double row of arches, 108 feet high, with Fleury to the left, and Les Moulinceaux, on the Seine, to the right.

Meudon (2 kil.), in department Seine-et-Oise, is a pretty place, near Meudon forest, under the Château built by Louis XIV.'s son, and restored by Napoleon for Marie Louise. An avenue, 450 yards long by 80 broad, leads up to the fine terrace in front of it (where stood the Cardinal of Lorraine's older chateau, made an ammunition factory at the Revolution, and pulled down 1804), and commands a vast prospect over Paris, the Seine, &c.

The Château has some pictures and tapestry, and was the residence latterly of the Dukes of Bordeaux and Orleans, and Don Pedro; a small park laid out by Lenôtre, of 500 arpents (250 hectares, or 618 acres), is taken from the forest. Near the railway is Nôtre Dames des Flammes chapel, a triangular building, with spires at the corners, commemorating the death of nearly 150 persons, 8th May, 1842, who were burnt to death by the carriages taking fire. One of the victims was Admiral D'Urville. Rabelais was titular. curé of Meudon. Glass and pottery are made.

Bellevue (1 kil.), where Mad. de Pompadour had a splendid seat, is near

Sevres (see Route 10), and the rive droite line beyond.

Chaville (4 kil.)

Viroflay (1 kil.), a pretty spot, where the branch of 4 kil. to Versailles turns off, past Petit Montreuil, to Avenue de la Mairie, opposite the palace. The rive gauche station is near the Hôtel de Ville.

VERSAILLES.

17 kil. or 10 miles from Paris. HOTEL.-Des Reservoir.

Church Service in Rue Hoche, at 1 p.m. Population, 34,000.

Galleries-Fountains-the Trianons.

The capital of department Seine-et-Oise (formerly Ile de France, Hugh Capet's patrimony), seat of a bishop, tribunals, &c., and of a magnificent Palace of the later Bourbon kings, which has been turned into a National Museum since 1837.

It was a mere hunting lodge of Henry IV. and others, till Louis XIII., in 1624, built a brick château here, to which Louis XIV., "le Grand Monarque,” as

he is styled, added the palace (1661-81), gardens, and parks (twenty miles in circuit), at a vast expense; some say ten millions, some forty millions, sterling.

A new street, Rue Horace Vernet (who has done so much for art here), leads from the station to Avenue de Paris, the main street, which, at Place d'Armes, opposite the palace, meets the Avenues de St. Cloud and de Sceaux. It is 288 feet wide, and well planted, and divides the town into two parishes. That of Notre Dame, to the north, includes J. Mansard's Doric church, built 1684; the palais de justice, behind the great stables; Place Hoche, in which is that general's statue; barracks; a large market; the Vénerie, or grand huntsman's house; the rive droite railway station, &c.

In the south, or St. Louis' parish, in Old Versailles,

are the Hôtel de Ville, and rive gauche station, close to another pile of stables (now a barrack); the Grecian Cathedral, built 1743; the préfecture, in the old garde-meuble; the marché St. Louis; the Menus Plaisirs, and barracks; and a small building called Jeu de Paume, where the States-General, or National Assembly, met 1789, before they moved to Paris. Here they swore never to separate till the Constitution was firmly established. It contains pictures by H. Vernet. There are also baths, priests' seminary, &c. All the streets are regular and well built. Rue Satory is macadamised for the use of the troops, who are exercised on the Plains of Satory. Blucher pillaged the town, in 1815.

The Place d'Armes, 800 feet broad, brings you to the Cour d'Honneur and the marble court, 380 feet broad, in front of Louis XIII.'s château, where Louis XIV.'s and sixteen other statues are placed. To the right

and left are ranges of buildings, as Louis XV.'s opera

house; the bibliothèque, or public library of 40,000

volumes; the Grand Commun, now a military hospital; and Louis XIV.'s beautiful Chapel, with its high-pitched roof, where Marie Antoinette was married. Behind the old château, facing the gardens, is

the main or west front of the

Palace of Versailles, a noble Ionic range, 1,400 feet long, something in the style of Somerset House, as seen from the river, but with the wings thrown back from the domed centre. It was the work of Mansard, and has 102 columns, in groups of four to eight each, and 375 windows and doors, with a profusion of vases, busts, &c. Within is a series of splendid rooms and galleries, restored by Louis Philippe : as the Gallerie des Glaces, 242 feet long; the cabinet of Louis XIV. (who privately married Madame de Maintenon here); Louis XVI.'s chamber, where he showed himself with the cap of liberty to the people below (a young officer, Bonaparte, and his friend Bourrienne, being spec

tators); also the chamber where the ferocious mob broke in on Marie Antoinette, and other rooms, all now filled with marbles, china, tapestry, busts and statues of eminent French soldiers, a marine gallery, and above 1,100 paintings (good, bad, and indifferent), dedicated to the glory of France, including portraits of admirals, marshals, generals, &c., works of the time of Louis XIV., views of royal palaces, paintings of battles from Clovis, down to H. Vernet's battle of Isly, in Algerie. On the ceiling of the Salon d'Hercule is a masterpiece of Lemoine's, the "Apotheosis of Hercules," a composition of 142 figures. The ultramarine in the sky, alone cost £400. (See Galignani's Paris Guide, and Bradshaw's Hand-Book to Paris).

The Gardens, or Little Park, were laid out by Lenôtre, or his disciples, and comprise a beautiful Orangery (one tree is as old as 1421), and a great number of terraces, allées, parterres, bosquets, pieces of water, &c., ornamented with vases and statuary (that by Lebrun, at the Bassin d'Appollon, for example). The centre walk, called Tapis Vert, or green carpet, leads to the Grand canal (a cross-shaped piece of water), and the fountains, which are supplied by forcing-pumps at Marly (though Louis XIV.'s intention was to bring water from the Eure, by the aqueduct he began at Maintenon). The Petites Eaux play the first Sunday of every month, but the Grandes Eaux only on special fête days. The potager, or kit chen garden, is near the jardin Anglais, made by Louis XVIII. when Count of Provence, and the lake, called Pièces des Suisses. This garden is now surrounded by an open railing.

the site of the village of Triarnum), consisting of a Towards the north-west are-Grand Trianon (on centre and wings in the Italian style, built by Mansard of Campan marble, for Madame de Maintenon, and lately occupied by Madame Adelaide; and Petit Trianon to the right, a pavilion, 72 feet square, built by Louis XV. (who died in it) for Madame du Barry. Marie Antoinette and the Duchess of Orleans resided

here.

Phillip V. of Spain (Louis XIV.'s grandson), Louis XVI., and his brothers Louis XVIII. and Charles X., were born in the palace. Marshal Berthier, Generals Hoche and Gourgaud, and the excellent Abbé de 'Epée, were also natives of Versailles. Marchaud's statue of the last, was put up 1843, in Marché-auFourrage. Many fossil shells are found round this place. The agricultural college at Grignon, near Thiverbal, was discontinued 1852. Rev. N. Vors is protestant pastor here.

Fire arms, clocks, and watches, and jewellery are

made. Coaches to St. Nom, Villefreux, Dreux, Jouy, St. Cyr, Chevreuse, Houdan, Montfort, Septeuil. [Buc, 2 kil. south of Versailles, is a charming little place in the woods above the Bièvre, here crossed by an aqueduct on nineteen arches, 70 feet high, built 1688, to supply Versailles with water. Among other seats is that called La Guerinière. Jouy-en-Josas, 2 kil. east of it, down the Bièvre, was called Gaugiacum in the 9th cent., when it belonged to St. Germain's abbey. The river turns many mills; and M. Oberkampf's painted-paper factory is here, as well as a fine château. Population, 1,244.] The next station to Versailles is

St. Cyr (32 miles), in the great park of Versailles, and known for its Military School for 300 infantry cadets, established here, 1806, by Napoleon, in place of the school for young ladies of rank, founded, 1686, by Madame de Maintenon, who received a visit from Peter the Great, and died here, 1719. As built by J. Mansard, it forms five large courts. Racine's Esther was performed here for the first time. Trappes (3 miles). Coaches to Le Château, Neauphle, Thoiry, Pont-Chartrain, Pontel, Septeuil,

&c.

[PONT-CHARTRAIN (10 kil.), has a seat by Mansard, now the property of Marquis d'Osmont.

About 5 kil. south-east, near Vaumurier, in a deep valley, are a few fragments of

PORT ROYAL DES CHAMPS, originally a Bernardine monastery, founded, 1204, by Matthew de Marli, and called Portus Regius, Porréal, &c., after Philippe Auguste had found shelter here when hunting; but having become, about 1640-60, the head quarters of the Jansenist leaders, Arnauld d'Andilly, Lancelot, Le Maistre (who translated the Bible), Pierre Nicole (who shared in Pascal's "Provincial Letters") and other learned and pious recluses, including the young abbess, la Mère Angelique, it was suppressed, 1708. The beautiful Duchesse de Longueville died here in seclusion. Arnauld's house was at Les Granges, a farm still standing on the hill above. See Mrs. Schimmel-Penninck's Select Memoirs of Port Royal.]

Laverriere (3 miles) belonged to the Comte de la Vallette, whose escape from prison through his wife's means, is so well known. Coaches to Le Tremblay, the seat of Marquis de Vérac; Dampierre; Chevreuse (8 kil. east-south-east), and the fine fold castle of its seigneurs and dukes, on the Yvette; Montfort, the old donjon of Maurepas; and La Queue, on the Dreux road. Near Mesnil-St.-Denis castle, is the old abbey of Notre Dame de la Roche, founded

in the 11th cent. by the Sires de Lévis, who followed Simon de Montfort to the crusades against the Albigenses.

Lartoire (4 miles), was a fief of the Montforts, by the name of La Ritoire. Coach to Menuts, and to Montfort-la-Maury, which is 11 miles north, under the remains of a castle built by Amalric or Amaury de Montfort, and enlarged, with more modern additions, by the Duc de Luyne. It has also a fine old church, with stained windows. Near Auffargis are remains of the abbey of Vaux de Cernay.

Rambouillet (5 miles), a sous-préfecture of 3,200 souls, in a valley, having a royal Château in the midst of a park of 3,000 acres (laid out by Lenôtre), (near St. Hubert's Lake) is a large plain brick pile, flanked by spire turrets, and a great machicolated tower of an earlier date, and includes a grand saloon, with a marble floor, the room in which Francis I. died, in 1547, stables for 500 horses, &c. It belonged to the family of Agennes, and was bought of the Duc de Penthièvre by Louis XVI. Here Marie Louise and her son met the Allied Sovereigns, and Charles X. abdicated here, 1830, in favour of the Duc de Bordeaux, and set off for Cherbourg and Poole. At the revolution of 1848, the château was let for a cabaret! but is now under reparation; and Marie Antoinette's Jardin Anglais and her farm, with its laiterie or dairy,

and a fine hunting Forest of 30,000 acres. The Château

have been properly restored. Some of the earliest merinos in France were bred here. Hats and lace are

made.

Hotels-Du Lion d'Or (Golden Lion); St. Pierre. Coaches to Ablis, Auneau, St. Arnoult, Dourdan, St. Leger, Houdan, &c.

[HOUDAN (28 kil. north-west), on the Vesgre, where the Opton joins, has a fine Gothic Church, built by Robert le Pieux, and an old tower, with some remains of its ancient fortifications. AUNEAU (6 kil. south of Rombouillet), in department Eure-et-Loir, has a tower left of the old castle of its seigneurs, one of whom was Henry de Joyeuse, marshal of France in the 16th cent.] Passing the large park of Voisins, and the Vicomte de Merainville's seat, we come to

Epernon (8 miles), in a pretty, well-watered spot, on the Guesle, in department Eure-et-Loir. It has remains of the old Château of its dukes, the first of whom was the favourite of Henry III., Nogaret de la Valette, whose pride was so ridiculous that he was styled king of Epernon. Formerly it was called Sparnonum, and strongly fortified. Pop. 1,700.

Coaches to Gas, and to Gallardon and its old tower. called 'Epaule de Gallardon (the lower half being