186 miles from Paris, 464 miles from Rennes. HOTELS.-De Paris; De la Tête Noir; De la Cour Royal; De France; De l'Ouest.

Population, 28,159. 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 reestablished 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 Napoléon, and the pretty spire of Avesnières church, in the suburb. which was founded by Guy II. in the 19th century, and finished in the 16th century. 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.

Amongst the buildings to be noticed, are the churches of La Trinité and St. Vénérand-the former being the Cathedral, in the Gothic style of the 12th century; 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 'all (halle aux toiles); a public library

of 25,000 volumes; 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 and 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. Population, 2,140. There are several cuttings before and after.

Le Genest (6 miles). Cross the Vicoin to Port-Brillet (44 miles), a pretty spot, on a lake which the line traverses. It has an important iron forge. The spire of Ollivet abbeychurch is in view, built by Guy V. of Laval.

St. Pierre-la-Cour (44 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-etVilaine, and province of Brittany. The next sta

tion is

Vitré (9 miles), 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 Sévigné. The houses are ancient-looking, especially in Rues Poteric 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 ,000 volumes, 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 Madeleino chapel (founded 1209). Good walks in the Parc, on the south side of Vitré, and at Baratière, the Comte de Traissan's seat. The fine old Castle of he Ducs de Trémouille, at the west cnd of the town, is used as a prison.

eleven or twelve roads meet. The Romans called it Condate-Rhedonum, from its situation at the junction (condate) of the rivers, in the country of the Rhedones, a Celtic people of Armorica (i.e., the sea-side), as this peninsula, from St. Malo round to Nantes, was called. Afterwards it took the name of Bretagne, or Brittany, when the natives of

Goat-skin dresses are made here for the country people to wear in winter time; besides a few linens, &c. Cantharide flies are also prepared. Savary, the antiquary, was a native. Population, 8,900.

Hotels.-Des Sévigné; Des Voyageurs.

Rail to Fougères (23 miles), see Route 18. Coaches to Pontorson, 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 chapel in the grounds, &c.

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 Champeau, an excellent collegiate church.] Descending the Vilaine, we come to Châteaubourg (10 miles), near which is a great slate quarry. Population, 1,420.

Servon (2 miles).

Noyal (2 miles), among orchards, which yield the Breton cider. Population, 3,100. From this it is 7 miles to

RENNES.

2324 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.

4th centuries, settled here. Geoffrey Plantagenet and his son, Arthur, were Dukes of Brittany in the 12th century. 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 John-o'-Gaunt, 1336, in behalf of De Montfort. A great fire, 1720, burnt twenty-seven streets, and eight hundred and fifty houses, in the heart of the town. 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. I'wo 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

Palais de Justice, on the north side, built 1670, for the parliament of Brittany, with a Tuscan portico, and façade 152 feet long. It has paintings and decorations by Jouvenet and other artists, with eight statues, one of which is the procureur Chalo

Post Office, Place de la Trinité.
Population, 45,550.

OBJECTS OF NOTICE.-Cathedral-Palais de Justice-Porte Mordelaise-Hôtel de Ville-Statue

of Duguesclin--University.

The chief town of department Ille-et-Vilaine, seat of a military division, of a bishop, cour impérialo, university, &c., on a slight hill, in a wide

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 century, and is a very modern structure, built between 1787 and 1811, 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 century.

The pretty chapel of St. Yves, on the quai of that name, deserves attention. Another chapel, St. Anne's, of the 16th century, 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 is the Theatre, by Millardet. The Arsenal, ou the 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 patients, 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 ("harles 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, and Lanjuinais, one of the Convention, are among the natives. Rennes, like Toulouse, is a sort of provincial capital, whero 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 good sailors, and are noted for probity, so that "La parole d'un Bréton 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 Jauze), cattle, &c. Rennes lies beyond the region in which the vine flourishes in France.

By rail to Rédon, Nantes, Lorient, Vannes, Brest, St. Malo, St. Brieuc, Morlaix, &c. By coach to Dinan, &c. The canal d'Ille-et-Rance is a series of cuttings for improving the course of the upper part of the Ille, and joining it to the Rance, at Dinan. The rail hence is continued to Brest, and branches run from Rennes to St. Malo, to the north, and Rédon to the south. The latter passes up the Vilaine to Guichen (15 miles), Messac (10 miles), and Beslé (10 miles), to Rédon (12 miles), for which and the line thence to Vannes, &c., sce Route 42.

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 rail to Brest, 155 miles distant, you pass on to

L'Hermitage (7 miles).

Montfort-sur-Meu (5 miles), a small souspréfecture (population, 1,715), on a hill over the Meu (where the Chailloux joins), having remains of a moat, ramparts, and old towers. Among its con ts 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 fect 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. Good beer is made. The next stations are

Montauban-de-Bretagne (6 miles), in Brit

tany; and

Caulnes-Dinan (9 miles). Then

Broons (5 miles), in department Côtes-du-Nord, and Basse-Bretagne, a place of 2,600 population; 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 Bas-Bréton, or Brezounecq, language, a dialect of the Celtic.

Plenée-Jugon (6 miles), near the Arguenon.

Then

Lamballe (10 miles), on the Gouessant, was the old set of the counts and dukes of Penthièvre (a title now in the Orléans 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. Population, 4,400. Trade in woollens, money, wax, corn, leather, cattle, horses. Hotel.-Du Croissant.

[About 30 kil. north-east is Cape Frehel 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 & J.), ther Loudéac (11 kil.), a sous-préfecture of 6,400 population (on the branch line from Pontivy to St. Brieuc), in a forest, of no consequence except for its toiles de Bretagne, or linens, The church has a tall spire, and there is a linen hall, college, chamber of commerce, &c. Hotel. De la Croix Blanche (White Cross). Pontivy is 22 kil. further (see Route 421.] Yffiniac (6 miles), the next station to Lamballe, is followed, 7 miles further, by

ST. BRIEUC, or ST. BRIEUX. HOTELS.-De la Croix Rouge (Red Cros:); De la Croix Blanche (White Cross); Du Chapeau Rouge (Red Hat).

Population, 15,340. A port on a bay in the Channel, chief town of department Côtes-duNord (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 s'atue of that warrior, who is a great favourite with his provincial countrymen.

The Cathedral, with its low plain towers, is of the 13th century, on the site of a Druid temple, which St. Brieuc, an Irishman, turned into a monastery in the 5th century. 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.

The

The Hôtel de Ville is an old building. public library contains 24,000 volumes. 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 belonged to the Cordeliers' convent. Trade in grain, cider, butter, honey, cattle, paper, thread, fish.

A branch rail was opened 1872, from here to Pontivy and Loudéac (as above) via Quintin and Uzel.

From St. Brieuc, on the rail to Brest, the next station is