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That is, 1o Reaumur

and 1° Centigrade

Reaumur's thermometer is generally used on the Continent. To convert degrees of Reaumur into Fahrenheit, multiply by 9, divide by 4, and to the quotient, add 32° (or if below freezing point subtract from 32°). Thus, 20° Reaumur will be found to correspond with 77° Fahrenheit.

(F.) For the Barometer, it will suffice to remember that the two extremes, 704 and 779 millimètres Fr., correspond to the two extremes, 27:7 and 30.7 inches English.

Forwarding Luggage.-Passengers are recommended to apply to Mr. GEORGE CATCHPOOL, Custom House and Forwarding Agent, 63, Great Tower Street, London, to have Luggage, Furniture, and Effects carefully, expeditiously, and cheaply forwarded to its destination,

=

24° Fahrenheit.

=

11° Fahrenheit.

II.

SKETCH OF FRANCE.

France lies between latitude 42° 20′ and 51° 6' north, and longitude 7° 10' east, and 4° 48′ west. The greatest length, north and south, or Dunkirk to Perpignan, is 500 miles; the greatest width, east and west, or St. Dié to Brest, 470 miles. Area, including Corsica, about 204,000 fsquare miles (the British Islands are 120,560 square miles). The back-bone of the country, or line of "water shed," is along the Jura and Vosges mountains, then to the west by Monts Faucilles, then south by the Plateau de Langres, the Côte d'Or, and the Cevennes, whence it strikes west, to the Pyrenées. Its greatest off-shoot, the Dauphiné Alps, rise 14,108 feet at Mont Pelvoux, the highest peak in France; Mont Perdu, in the Pyrenées, is 10,994 feet; Mont Dore, in Auvergne, about 6,198 feet; Reculet, in the Juras, 5,683 feet. On its Sardinian frontier line are Mont Blanc, 15,732 feet, the highest in Europe; Mont Cenis (now pierced by the great Tunnel, 8 miles long), 11,460 feet; and Mont Viso, 12,600 feet. St. Véran, in department of Basses Alpes, Dauphiné, is the highest village in France, viz., 6,698 feet above

sea level.

Five principal Rivers water the surface of France:-The Meuse, Seine, Loire, Garonne, and Rhône. It is now cut off from the Rhine. The smaller ones are the Escaut, Aa, Canche, Authie, Somme, Touques, Orne, Vire, Selune, Rance, Aulne, Blavet, Vilaine, Lay, Sèvre-Niortaise, Charente, Leyre, Adour, Tet, Agly, Aude, Orb, Hérault, and Var. Besides these, and ninety-four streams of the second class, there are 3,664 kilomètres of canals. The principal Canals are the following:-Du Midi, along the Garonne; Du Centre, joining the Loire and Saône; de Bourgogne, from the Yonne to the Saône; de Monsieur, from the Saône to the Rhine; de Briare, uniting the Yonne and Loire with those of Loire and d'Orléans; de St. Quentin, from the Oise to the Escaut; de Bretagne, from Nantes to Brest.

The Roads are in three classes; 1st,-Routes nationales (or “king's highway ") broad and paved, kept up by the state; 2nd,-Routes départementales, kept up by the departments; and 3rd,-Routes vicinales or cross-roads, which are left to the communes. Some of the best are thirteen to twenty mètres broad, paved, and lined with trees; but the cross-roads are dreadfully bad. There about 36,000 communes in France.

Before 1789, it contained 33 Provinces, which were then sub-divided into 86 Departments, taking names from their local position with respect to some river, mountain, &c. In 1860, after the Austro-Italian war, it acquired three more-Savoie and Haute Savoie (in Savoy), with the Alpes Maritimes. In 1871, after the German war, it lost the Departments bordering on the Rhine, viz.:-Haute and Bas Rhin (or Alsace), with a corner of Vosges, one-third of Meurthe, and the best part of Moselle (in German Lorraine). With their chief towns and old provinces, they are now as follows:

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Each Department is placed under a préfect, appointed by the state, and is divided into three to six arrondissements or Sous-Préfectures; these are parted (seven on the average) into cantons (2,834 in all) under juges de paix, and these again (six to fifteen each) into Communes, each having a maire, a parish priest or curé, and his subordinate or vicaire. There are about 40,000 priests in the communes, besides 565 monasteries, for monks, and 3,400 nunneries. Each arrondissement has a tribunale de première instance (or quarter sessions' courts); and the departments are combined for the purpose of forming circuit courts, archbishoprics, and military commands. Each department constitutes a diocese.

About 47,000 primary Schools are established in the communes, superior schools or colleges in the towns, normal schools and university faculties, in the chief cities. Chambers of commerce exist at the ports and manufacturing towns; public libraries in most large places. There are about 170 fortified places of war, in four classes.

Some of the best Cathedrals are- Chartres, Bourges, Reims, Troyes, Amiens, Abbeville, Beauvais, Rouen, Bayeaux, Coutances. The Romanesque style of the earlier churches corresponds to the roundarched Norman in England; Flamboyant, to the florid Gothic (with wavy, flame-like tracery); and Renaissance, to the Tudor and later styles.

The Soil of France is very fruitful, and best cultivated on the borders of Belgium; from thence to the south the system gets worse. Fields are unenclosed; farmers live near the villages, away from their farms. Most of them are mortgaged, with a tendency, under the law of equal shares, to grow smaller and smaller. Corn is not drilled in, so that a fine crop of weeds spring up. Women reap, and the produce is thrashed in the open air. Manures are used, but no more cattle are kept than are actually wanted. The best pasture is in Normandy and the west, where good breeds of cattle and sheep are seen,

About three acres in seven are arable, and half as much waste. Of 183 millions of acres there are about 20 millions of forest, 25 of pasture and meadow, and 5 of vineyards.

Wheat, rye, oats, potatoes, are the chief crops, the return being one-third less than in England; beetroot is grown for sugar, the annual production of which is 46,000 tons; French beans and other vegetables are raised in profusion; maize for food; flax, hemp, tobacco, and a few hops, with rape and cole seed. Tobacco and salt are government monopolies.

Cider, perry, and a little poor wine are made in the north, down to a line running east-north-east and west-south-west through Paris. Vineyards are common, south of this; and from a second line, through Rochelle and Dijon, the maize or Indian corn begins. From a third line, east and west through Lyons, the olive and mulberry flourish; and the orange, lemon, cactus, and other semi-tropical plants grow on parts of the Mediterranean coast.

The Vine which thrives to a greater or less degree in seventy-six departments, yields annually 1,000 million gallons of wine, of which one-sixth is used for brandy (eaux-de-vie) from the Charente, &c., and one-third is exported. Champagne, Burgundy, Bordeaux (claret), Roussillon, Dauphiné, Lyonnais, &c., are the best sorts. Stony soils are the most suitable for its growth. Bercy, near Paris, is the central market for wine, and Béziers and Cognac are markets for brandy.

The Forests, though extensive, are not too great for the vast consumption of charcoal for fuel. Lorraine, Burgundy, Ile de France, Orléannais, Champagne, Berri, Vivarais, Dauphiné, are the provinces most abundant in wood. About one-fifth belongs to the state. Elm is the most common timber. Other timbers are the oak, lime, maple, and various ornamental woods; pine (in the Landes, Vosges, &c.), cork tree (Pyrenées); the chestnut, for food; walnut, for oil; mulberry, for the silk worm (in the Drôme, Ardèche, &c.)

Coal is found, or traced, in thirty-three departments, but worked only round Valenciennes, St. Étienne, Angers, &c., so that two-thirds of the annual consumption (8,000,000 tons) is imported. New mines have lately been opened round Albi, Decazeville, Alais, &c., for which railway communication is now provided. Iron is plentiful, and forged at 4,400 furnaces. Copper is worked near Lyons. Brick and porcelain clay, chalk, gypsum, limestone (in most of the mountains), marble, granite (in Brittany, &c.), manganese, antimony, lead and silver, rock salt, and slate, are all abundant.

Of eight hundred Mineral Springs as counted, there are 50 or 60 principal Spas, in charge of medical inspectors, at Aix, Aix-les-Bains, Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Bagnères-de-Luchon, Bagnoles, Barèges, Bourbonneles-Bains, Bourbon-Lancy, Cauterets, Chaudes-Aigues, Clermont-Ferrand, Dax, Eaux-Bonnes, EauxChaudes, Enghien, Luxeuil, Luz, Mont-Dore-les-Bains, Néris-les-Bains, Passy, Pau, Plombières, Pierrefonds, Rennes-les-Bains, St. Amand, St. Laurent-les-Bains, Salins, St. Sauveur, Ussat, Vezelay, Vic-surCère, Vichy, &c. They are annually used by 50,000 persons, one-half being strangers.

Among Sea-Side Bathing-Places and Resorts are Arcachon, Avranches, Biarritz, Boulogne, Calais, Cannes, Dieppe, Dinan, Dunkirk, Êtretat, En, Honfleur, Fécamp, Granville, Havre, Hyères, Menton or Mentone, Nice, St. Malo, St. Tropez, St. Valery, Trouville, Tréport.

Linen, lace, cotton (at Rouen, &c.), broad cloths, woollens, carpets, &c., are made in the north; silk in the south, round Lyons, &c. The produce of silk has fallen off one-half. Beavers and flamingoes still breed in the Rhône; the bear, wolf, wild boar, chamois, otter, with the ortolan, becafico, gecko, salamander, are also found in the south of France, where the mosquito bites. Sardines or pilchards are caught on the shores of Brittany; tunny and anchovy, in the Mediterranean. The most striking parts of France for Scenery, are Normandy, the Seine, the Lower Loire, Brittany, the Upper Garonne and the Pyrenées, Auvergne and its volcanoes, in the Upper Loire, the Cevennes Mountains, the Rhône below Lyons, the Dauphiné Alps, and the Vosges Mountains.

A few notices of its past History may be added. In Cæsar's time it was styled Gallia or Gaul, including the Belge, to the north and north-east; Celts, in the west, middle, and south; the Aquitani, in the south-west; with some Greek colonies round Marseilles. Fine remains of Roman civilisation still exist at Nismes, Orange, &c., in the south, and even as far north as Lillebonne. It was afterwards divided into four, and then seventeen, provinces, by the emperors. Later still, it was occupied by roving nations from central Europe, as the Visigoths and Ostrogoths in the south; the Burgundians, on the Rhine; and the Franks (4th century), on the Lower Rhine, who were descended from Meroveus, and, under Clovis (481-511) the Merovingian, obtained so much ascendancy as to give this country the name of France.

Upon the death of Clovis his four sons shared his power and dominions, which were again united under the survivor, Clotaire. After several kings, and many divisions, during which parts of it took the names of Austrasia (east and north-east), including the "kingdoms" of Metz and Orléans; Neustria (north-west), including the "kingdoms" of Soissons and Paris, where many Armorican Britains, &c., driven out of England, had settled; Aquitaine (south and west); and Bourgogne (east and south-east); it was re-united and extended under the vigorous sway of Charlemagne (768-814), son of Pepin, and head of the Carlovingian race, which expired with Louis V.

His successor was Hugues Capet, 987, from whom the descent is tolerably regular, though the kingly power was weak for several reigns. A succession of fourteen kings of this house (including Philippe Auguste and Louis IX., or St. Louis), ended in the direct line with Charles IV., who was succeeded, 1328, by Philippe VI. of Valois. Six kings of this branch (among whom are Charles V., called le Sage, who, however, lost Crécy and Poitiers; Charles VII., in whose time the English lost nearly all they had gained in France; and the crafty Louis XI.) ended with Charles VIII. Louis XII., of ValoisOrléans comes next, 1498. After him, Francis I. (1515), of Valois-Angoulême and four Princes of the same stock, including Charles IX., the author of the Bartholomew massacre. Henry IV., or Henri Quatre, of Valois-Bourbon, ascended the throne, 1589, and was succeeded by Louis XIII., and other Bourbons, down to the Revolution, and the execution of Louis XVI. in 1793.

Napoléon became Emperor, 1804. Louis XVIII. was restored, 1814 (the child of his murdered brother had the nominal title of Louis XVII.), and, except the "Hundred Days," reigned till 1825. His brother, Charles X., was driven from the throne, 1830, when Louis Philippe of Orléans succeeded, and reigned till 1848, when the Third Revolution and Second Republic was effected, which terminated with the Coup d'état of 2nd December, 1852, and the restoration of the empire, under Napoléon III. (son of Napoléon's second brother, Louis). He reigned with success till he declared war against Prussia, [1870; when the total defeat of his armies by the Germans, drove him from the throne after the battle of Sedan. This event was followed by another revolution, and a disastrous interregnum, ending with the investment and capitulation of Paris, and the nomination of M. Thiers as President of the Third Republic, 1871. Peace was only concluded with Germany, by the sacrifice of Alsace and Lorraine, with a population of 1 million, and 50,000 to 60,000 square miles of territory, and the payment of 5 milliards of francs, or 200 millions sterling-a payment which has increased the national debt of France from 500 millions, to the enormous sum of 900 millions sterling. This war cost the country a loss of 120 millions, besides the indemnity. The Emperor upon giving himself up a prisoner, after Sedan, was first sent to Wilhelmshöhe, and then retired to Chislehurst, where he died in exile, 9th Januar, 1873, leaving a son, the Prince Imperial. The direct survivor of Louis Philippe is his grandson, the Count de Paris; and of the Bourbons, Charles X.'s grandson, the Count de Chambord, or Henry V., as his partisans style him.

Population of France (1872), 36,102,821, or 1,965,173 less than 1867. This is exclusive of Algeria, and is most strikingly shown in the country parts. About 20 millions are agriculturists, and only 2 millions manufacturers; 8 millions are artizans; and the employés exceed half a million.

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