Hotels.-De la Belle Etoile; de l'Europe; du Petit | the Cathedral, in the Gothic style of the 12th cent.; Pavilion. AMBRIÈRES (10 kil. north), an ancient place on the Mayenne, fortified by William the Conqueror, to defend the Normandy frontier. It has an old bridge, a pretty spire church, and a halle on the castle site. Pop., 2,400.] Neau (4 miles) formerly Néel, on the Jouanne. Here is a quarry of grey marble. At Brée is a castle which belonged to Hubert de Brée, a crusader. At Montsurs (3 miles), or Mons Securas, is another feudal ruin, which, like all in this quarter, figured in the wars with the English; and the Chapel of the Three Marys, of the 14th cent. Louverne (8 miles), is noted for marble quarries. From this it is three miles to Laval, which is reached by an embankment 85 feet high, and a viaduct over the Mayenne. LAVAL. 186 miles from Paris, 46 miles from Rennes. HOTELS.-De Paris; De la Tete Noir; De la Cour Royal; De France; De l'Ouest. Population, 20,000. A manufacturing town, and capital of department Mayenne (formerly the province of Lower Maine), on a cultivated slope in the valley of the Mayenne. The bishopric was re-established here in 1855. Much linen and cotton cloth and thread is made. The plain around was formerly called the Forest of Concise; and the town grew out of a castle built by Guy de Valle in 1002. It was taken and retaken in the wars between the English and French, 1466. An old tower (near the bridge), with its peaked top, is all that remains of the Castle, which came to the Dukes of Laval and Trémouille, and is used as a prison. The court-yard, and the restored seigneurial chapel deserve a visit. In front of this, the prince of Talmont, the last of its long line of counts, was executed, 1794, after the final defeat of the Chouans, at Mans. They had gained a victory over the Republicans, here, the year before. It is a picturesque old place, having many curious Gothic timbered houses and narrow streets, some rather steep. The Champ de Foire, and especially a house called Bel Air, command the best prospects. Two bridges cross the river, the view up which takes in the Rue Napoleon, and the pretty spire of Avesnières church, in the suburb, which was founded by Guy II. in the 12th cent., and finished in the 16th cent. It contains a small figure of the Virgin, much venerated by pilgrims. Parts of the ancient town walls are left, with the old towers at Porte Beucheresse. the préfecture, in a large garden; the palais de justice (law court), formerly the petit château, in the Renaissance style; the college; a large linen hall (halle aux toiles); a public library of 25,000 vols.; two hospices; part of the Cordeliers' old convent, &c. None of these is of much note. Ambrose Paré, the surgeon, of whom there is a bronze statue by David d'Angers, was a native. Lesueur, the painter, was another. Trade in grain, wine, eaux-de-vie, linens, wood, iron, marble, &c. Conveyance to Angers, Mayenne. From Laval on the rail to Rennes, we pass the fine viaduct already mentioned. It is of solid granite, on nine arches, of 39 feet span, and is 591 feet long, and 92 feet high. The view is of course a commanding one. Through a cutting to ST. BERTHERVEN, where red marble is quarried. Pop., 2,140. There are several cuttings before and after. Le Genest (6 miles). Cross the Vicoin to Port-Brillet (4 miles), a pretty spot, on a lake which the line traverses. It has an important iron forge. The spire of Ollivet abbey church is in view, built by Guy V. of Laval. St. Pierre-la-Cour (4) miles), is in the neighbourhood of iron and coal mines. At Gravelle is an old château, burnt by the English, 1429. Further on is Erbrée, in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine, and province of Brittany. The next station is Vitre (16 kil.), a sous préfecture in department Ille-et-Vilaine, on the Vilaine, having regular Gothic ramparts, in the feudal style, strengthened by machicolated towers, between two of which is a house once inhabited by Madame de Sévigne. The houses are ancient looking, especially in Rues Poterie and Nôtre Dame, and the streets narrow and irregular. The best view of this picturesque place is from Tertre Noir, near the walls. At the Mairie, once a Benedictine convent, there is a good prospect of the country, and a public library of 4,000 vols., with a plate (taken out of the walls) recording the siege sustained by the town against the League, 1589. The college is an old Ursuline convent, and there is a school at the Madeleine chapel (founded 1209). Good walks in the Parc, on the south side of Vitrê, and at Baratière, the Comte de Traissan's seat. The fine old Castle of the ducs de Trêmouille, at the west end of the town, is used for a prison. An unique stone pulpit is seen outside the Gothic Church of Nôtre Dame. This handsome building, usually called the "cathedral," was attached to a priory, founded 1148. It is 200 feet long, and-feet high, to the new granite spire erected in 1858. It offers some beautiful carved work, In the Virgin chapel are some curious enamel paintings; and that | John-of-Gaunt, 1336, in behalf of De Montfort. A of P. Landais has his monument. great fire, 1720, burnt twenty-seven streets, and eight St. Nicolas's hospital, in faubourg Rachat, is of hundred and fifty houses, in the heart of the town. the 13th cent. Goat-skin dresses are made here for the country people to wear in winter time; besides a few linens, &c. Cantharides flies are also prepared. Savary, the antiquary, was a native. Pop. 8,550. Hotels.-Des Sévigné; des Voyageurs. Coaches to Fougères, St. Malo, Avranches, &c. [About 2 kil, south, is Château des Rochers, the old seat of Madame de Sévigné, with a court, tower, the cabinet of Madame, the eight-sided ohapel in the grounds, &c. These have been rebuilt of darkish granite and sandstone, and the suburbs beyond the old walls are regularly laid out; but there are many small, low, curiously carved timber houses, especially near the river, in Basse Ville. It is paved with caillou de Rennes, a kind of puddingstone, very trying to the feet. One old gate, the Porte Mordelaise, by which the dukes entered, on their accession, has some traces of a Roman inscription to the Emperor Gordian. Two out of the eleven Places are tolerably large, viz., the Place d'Armes, planted with trees, and Place du Palais, where a bronze of Louis XIV. stood. It takes name from the large Further on, at Argentré, is the old château de Plessis; at Chatillon-en-Vendelais, a fine old castle, on a height, over a lake; and at Chan peau, an excellent collegiate church.] Descending the Vilaine, we come to Chateaubourg (10 miles), near which is a and façade 152 feet long. great slate quarry. Pop. 1,420. Servon (2 miles). Noyal (2 miles), among orchards, which yield the Breton cider. Pop. 3,100. From this it is 7 miles to RENNES. 232 miles from Paris, 127 from Brest (by road). HOTELS.-De France; De la Corne de Cerf (Staghorn); Julien; Du Commerce; Pire; De l'Europe. There is a buffet at the Station. Omnibus from the station (near Champ de Mars) OBJECTS OF NOTICE.-Cathedral-Palais de of Duguesclin-University. The chief town of department Ille-et-Vilaine, seat of a military division, of a bishop, cour impériale, university, &c., on a slight hill, in a wide plain, on the Ille, where the Vilaine joins it, and eleven or twelve roads meet. The Romans called it CondateRhedonum, from its situation at the junction (condate) of the rivers, in the country of the Rhedones, a Feltic people of Armorica (i.e., the sea-side), as this Jeninsula, from St. Malo round to Nantes, was called. Afterwards it took the name of Bretagne, or Britany, when the natives of Britain, who fled from the Romans in the 3d and 4th cents., settled here. Geoffrey Plantagenet and his son, Arthur, were dukes of Brittany, in the 12th cent. It finally came to the French crown by the marriage of the Duchess Anne to Charles VIII, and Louis XII.; to the latter, in 1505. Rennes, in Haute Bretagne, was the capital of the whole province; the Normans, besieged it 873-4, and Palais de Justice, on the north side, built 1670, for the parliament of Brittany, with a Tuscan portico, It has paintings and decorations by Jouvenet and other artists, with eight statues, one of which is the procureur Chalotais, who was expelled from the city in 1762, and received back with great rejoicings twenty-six years after. There are pleasant walks along the quay, nearly a mile long; and on the Thabor, la Motte, le Maille, and other promenades. That of le Thabor, where stands a statue of Duguesclin, is the garden of the old Benedictine house of St. Mélaine, and commands a fine prospect of the river, &c.; la Motte faces the Préfecture. The Hôtel de Ville, built since the fire of 1720, by Gabriel, near Place de Comédie, is a Grecian pile, about 213 feet by 82, including a clock-tower, rooms for the tribunals, schools of design, and (behind it) a public library of 40,000 volumes, among which are many ancient books, and 200 MSS. One of the rooms contains the bust of Leperdit, a tailor, who saved Rennes from the worst excesses of the Revolution, by the good sense and firmness with which he combated the proposals of the infamous Carrier. St. Pierre Cathedral, opposite Porte Mordelaise, replaces the old Gothic one of the 14th cent., and is a very modern structure, built between 1787 and 1841, in the Grecian style, having a portal 127 feet high, decorated with rows of columns, above which rise two towers, 131 feet high. Its shape is a Greek cross; the timber roof rests on pillars, which terminate in thirty-three Ionic columns, at the rotonde at the east end. It contains two banners from Sebastopol. St. Sauveur is the best of the other churches Nôtre Dame, in Place St. Mélaine, marked by a statue of the Virgin on the dome, is in some parts as old as the 11th cent The pretty chapel of St. Yves, on the quai of that name, deserves attention. Another chapel, St. Anne's, of the 16th cent., is an iron magazine. The Visitation Convent is a wine store. Bonne Nonvelle convent, founded by Duke John IV. after his victory at Aunay, is a military magazine. The ancient Benedictine abbey of St. George, which was once a Pagan temple, is now a barrack; another barrack is placed in the Hôtel Kergus, formerly a high school for children of family. The Colombiers barrack is a large building for the artillery. Hôtel Biossac, is a building worth notice: so in the Theatre, by Millardet. The Arsenal, ou une south-west side of Rennes, is an extensive establishment, increased since! 1844. Here are 90,000 stand of arms. The Military Hospital is in Rue St. Louis; the General Hospital for 500, near the cathedral. The new University, begun 1849, by the river side, contains the museums of archæology, geology, and natural history, a fine carved altar-piece, by a Flemish hand, from the old cathedral; a collection of engravings, and another of paintings, by P.Veronese, P. de Champagne, Van Dyck ("Charles I. and Lord Arundel"), Rembrandt, Wouverman, Wynants, N. Poussin, and others; open daily, 11 to 4. Two rooms are occupied by various objects of art, collected by Dr. Aussant, the director of the museum, in the province of Brittany. There are also a college, priests' seminary, jardin des plantes, public baths. A Roman gold vase, with a bas relief of the Triumph of Bacchus, now at Paris, was found at Rennes, 1774. Guinguiné, author of the "Literary History of Italy," A. Duval, the dramatist, Lanjuinais, one of the Convention, are among the natives. Rennes, like Toulouse, is a sort of provincial capital, where some of the decayed noblesse may be found, living in quiet obscurity; but on the whole it is a dull place. Many of the country people dress in sheep-skins in winter, and wear their hair long; the women put on high or wide square caps, over their locks, which they sell to the dealers, who come round periodically to clip them. The men make goood sailors, and are noted for probity, so that "La parole d'un Breton vaut or" (the word of a Breton is worth gold), is a proverb. Sail cloth, linens, &c., are manufactured; and there is a trade in grain, cider, butter (beurre de la Prévalaye), fowls (poulardes de Jauzé), cattle, &c. Rennes lies beyond the region in which the vine flourishes in France. Conveyances to Nantes, Lorient, Vannes, Brest, Dinan, St. Malo, St. Brieuc, Morlaix, Avranches, Caen, Havre, Rouen, St. Lô, Cherbourg, &c. The canal d'Ille-et-Rance, is a series of cuttings for im proving the course of the upper part of the Ille, and joining it to the Rance, at Dinan. The rail hence is to be continued to Brest, and branches will run from Rennes to St. Malo, to the north, and Redon to the south. An excursion may be made to Prévalaye, a solitary old château, in a pretty part of the Vilaine, noted for its butter. Here Henry IV. once slept, and the treaty of Mabilas was agreed on, 1798, between the royalists and republicans. Another excursion is to the Roche aux Fées. ROUTE 15-Continued. From Rennes, on the road to Brest, you pass [PACE (10 kil.) BEDÉE (13 kil.) At 5 kil. south-south-west is MONTFORT, a small sous préfecture (pop., 1,715), on a hill over the Meu (where the Chailloux joins), having remains of a moat, ramparts, and old towers. Among its counts were Jean de Montfort, who became Jean IV., duke of Brittany, by the help of his heroic wife, Jeanne of Flandres, and of Edward III. of England; and the famous Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who fell at Evesham in the previous reign. It was taken from the English by Duguesclin. Some good mineral springs are here. At the Thermes, or Roman baths, are two basins, each 76 feet by 63 each, descended by steps. In the neighbourhood is an ancient oak, six or seven centuries old; also the tomb of the enchanter Merlin, on a hill in Brescilien forest, near the ruins of the famous fountain of Jouvence. beer is made. Good LA BARETTE (14 kil.) BROONS (16 kil.), in department Côtes-du-Nord, and Basse-Bretagne, is a place of 2,600 pop., a little beyond which is the site of Lamotte Broons, once the seat of the famous soldier Duguesclin, who died here in 1311, and to whom a pillar is set up. The country people here begin to speak the Las-Bréton, or Brezounecq, language, a dialect of the Celtic. LARGOUÈDRE (12 kil.), on the Arguenon. LAMBALLE (15 kil.), on the Gouessant, was the old seat of the counts and dukes of Penthièvre (a title now in the Orleans family), whose castle, built near a monastery founded, 1084, by Geoffrey I., was pulled down by Richelieu, 1626, except Nôtre Dame chapel and its minaret-like tower, The site is a pretty walk, with good views. Pop., 4,400. Trade in woollens, money, wax, corn, leather, cattle, horses. Hotel.-Du Croissant. About 30 kil. north-east is Cape Fréhel and its revolving light, standing 246 feet high, and shining for 2 minutes, to a distance of 16 or 18 miles.-At 15 kil. south-west is Moncontour, then Plougenast (14 kil.), then LOUDÉAC (11 kil.), a sous-préfecture of 6,400 pop., Hotel.-De la Croix Blanche (White Cross). At 20 kil. from Lamballe, is ST. BRIEUC, OR ST. BRIEUX. Pop., 14,100. A port on a bay in the Channel, chief town of departmentCôtes-du-Nord (in Lower Brittany), and seat of a diocese, among hills (which shut out the sea-view), on the Gouet, the mouth of which makes the harbour at Legué, for vessels of 400 tons. Two bridges cross the river, one being of granite. A promenade, made 1788, is carried round the site of the old walls, and has a fine prospect at the Terrace. In Place Duguesclin, is a statue of that warrior, who is a great favourite with his provincial countrymen. The Cathedral, with its low plain towers, is of the 13th cent., on the site of a Druid temple, which St. Brieuc, an Irishman, turned into a monastery in the 5th cent. It has an altar by Corlay, and two pieces of Gobelins tapestry. St. Michel's Church is an ugly structure, with nothing else noticeable about it. Hotels.-Des Voyageurs (Travellers); de Bretagne. [PONTRIEUX (16 kil. north), is down the river, here crossed by a bridge to which the tide comes. PAIMPOL (13 kil. north-west of this) is a bustling BELLEISLE-EN-TERRE (20 kil.), on the Guer. Hotel-des Marchands. ] The Hôtel de Ville is an old building. The public library contains 24,000 vols. There are a museum, college, hospital, navigation school, theatre, several fountains, besides a race course or hippodrome, near the old tower of Cesson (which has a double ditch round it), and the large public gardens, which be- MORLAIX (33 kil.), a port and sous préfecture in longed to the Cordeliers' convent. department Finisterre, where the Jarleau and Trade in grain, cider, butter, honey, cattle, paper, Kerlent fall into the Channel, under some pictu thread, fish. resque hills. Its quays offer good prospects. Pop. From St. Brieuc, on the road to Brest, the next 12,400. Some curious old houses are seen at Lances. place is and on the Trigieux side of the creek, which runs up CHÂTELAUDREN (17 kil.), which commands a fine to the principal Place. Others are seen in Rues des view from the ruins of its old castle. GUINGAMP (14 kil.), on the plain of the Trieux, is ▲ sous-préfecture (7,200 population), in department Côtes-du-Nord, and in the old duchy of Penthièvre, with some remains of its old walls, a college, and a market-hafl, near the fountain, in the Place. Its church is large, and ornamented with a tall spire at one end, and a sort of domed tower at the other. Nobles and du Pavé. Of the four churches, St. Mathieu's is in the pointed style, St. Martin's stands on a hill. The Mairie and markets are in the Place, on the site of an hôtel de ville, pulled down 1836. It has a salle de spectacle, and large tobacco factory, navigation school, &c., and walks, near the Fontaine des Anglais. General Moreau was a nativa, The English held it in the 14th cent. Hotels. De la Boule d'Or (Golden Ball); de l'Europe. Conveyances, daily, to Paris Brest, St. Malo, Rennes, St. Pol, Lannion, &c.; and by steam to Havre, on Wednesdays, in 20 hours. Druid stones are to be seen at Brenmlis and Menegueu, and other spots in the neighbourhood; and at Touquedoc (to the east), are fine remains of a Castle of the 13th cent. [ST. POL-DE-LÉON, (20 kil. north-west) to the right of the road to Brest, on the coast, is a decayed cathedral town, with several old Gothic houses, and takes its name from the Roman legion stationed in this part. Pop. 7,500. The beautiful granite spire of Kreisker Church, 394 feet high, was built in the 14th cent. by an English architect; and the Cathedral, with its two good towers, rose window, carved porch, stalls, &c. and tombs of Conan Méridec, Bishop Visdelou, and of the patron saint, deserves notice.] LANDIVIZIAU (20 kil.), has a good church. Pop., 3,300. LANDERNEAU (16 kil.), on the Elorn, which falls into the east end of Brest harbour, is a place of 5,200 pop., to which vessels of 300 tons come, having large barracks for sailors, long quays, a church of the 16th cent., and the Plaudiry fountain, in the shape of an obelisk. On the road to Lesneven (to the west), in a wild heath, are the beautiful ruins of Nôtre Dame du FolGoet, a church built, 1423, by the dukes of Brittany; it abounds with delicate carving and tracery. At 20 kil. further is BREST: 245 kil., or 127 miles from Rennes. The town is divided into Haute and Basse, or upper and lower, so steep as to be joined by steps in several places; some of the newest houses are in the suburb of Recouvrance on the west. The Cours d' Ajot has a good view of the harbour; and there are prome nades at Champ de Bataille, Place de la Liberté, &c. A narrow passage, called Le Goulet (the gullet), about one mile wide, leads in from the Bay of Biscay, on the west, to the noble land-locked Rade or Harbour, which is about nine leagues in circuit, would hold about 500 ships of the line, and, towards the east, divides off into two channels, to Landerneau and Châteaulin. It is strongly defended by batteries on every point, numbering about 1,000 pieces of cannon; a telegraph communicates with Paris. Outside the Goulet, about 10 miles off, is Ouessant or Ushant light, at the mouth of the Channel, where Keppel fought an action with the French, 1778. The Dock Yard includes 10 building slips, large dry docks, rope works (corderies) of great length, shears (machines à mâter), sail lofts (voileries), cannonfoundry, and general magazine, forges, &c.; besides the "Cayenne," or sailors' barracks for 4,000, victualling office (parc aux vivres), museum of models (salle des modèles), the Clermont-Tonnerre hospital (a large building with 1,340 beds in it), a marine library of 15,000 volumes, an observatory, &c. The Bretagne, a four-deck screw ship, the largest in the French navy, was launched here, 1858. She was visited by the Queen, at Cherbourg. The new workshops for Steam Engines stand on a scarped rock, the Plateau des Capucins. Three ships, complete, with all their fittings, are constructed every year, on the average, at this port. At the Bagne, an immense building about 850 feet long, on a hill, there is room for about 3,000 forçats or convicts; but the number has fallen off since the French Service, twice on Sundays; Rev. M. Le penitentiary colony of Cayenne, in South America, fourdrey is Protestant pastor here. Bankers, H. Guilhem, Sh. Boëlle. A naval Dock Yard and Arsenal, seat of a ma- was formed. In the town are, a naval school, called the College Joinville, the Hôtel de Ville, St. Louis' church, salle de spectacle (theatre) with a good front, bibliothèque of 8,000 volumes, museum, botanic garden, medical school with a library of 8,000 volumes, &c. Howe fought the battle of the 1st June, 1794, off Brest. One of the boats of the unfortunate Amazon escaped in here, 1852. High water at moon's full and change 3h. 40m. The climate is moist and cloudy. Trade in wine, eaux-de-vie, sail-cloth, rope, &c. Conveyances, by coach, to Rennes, Nantes, St. Malo, Lorient, &c.; by steam to Châteaulin, up the Aulne. Across the harbour, and thence to Camaret, brings you to a Druid circle called Foull-Inguet, of |