26 AUMALE-ALBERT-PERONNE-ARRAS. the nave, which is 45 feet broad, is of the surprising height of 141 feet! But the front, flanked by two towers, and pierced at the base by three deep portals, is the fincst part. It has a circular window above; and the whole is a wonderful profusion of tracery, bas-reliefs, niched figures, including the 'Last Judgment,' 'Virtues and Vices,' the 'Months and Seasons,' the Massacre of the Innocents,' &c. The nave is supported by above 120 delicate pillars, some of which sounds like a bell when struck. Notice also the circular gallery, the fine windows (not stained), the tombs of the founders Godefrey d'Eu and Cardinal Hemart, the carved stalls and pulpit, and the monument of the enfant pleureur (weeping child). It is in course of repair. Hôtel de Ville, built by Henry IV., stands on arcades, and has some pictures. The Public Library (bibliothèque) is a large building in the ionic style, with a good collection of 45,000 volumes, including 400 volumes of MSS. Other buildings are the préfeeture, the lycée or college, the museum, corn market, citadel, jardin des plantes (botanic garden), cemetery of la Madeleine, hospital of St. Charles, the cavalry barracks, la Barge cloister of the 14th century, the 'King's House,' in the passage of that name (Logis du Roi). Peter the Hermit, Ducange the scholar, the poet Gresset, Delambre, the astronomer, were born here. Manufactures of velvet, camlet, plush, ribands, and cotton goods. Good pâtés are made; and savon du nord (soap). Conveyances, by railway to Abbeville, Boulogne, Calais, Paris; and to Arras, Douai, Valenciennes, Dunkerque, Mons, Brussels, &c. Public carriages to Doullens, Aumale. The old châteaux of Baves and d'Hoilly, may be visited from this point. The railway to Abbeville and Bouogne is described in Route 12. [Villers-Bretonneux (16 kil. east), on the Peronne road, has a thriving stocking manufacture. Aumale (43 kil. west-south-west) on the Rouen road, pleasantly seated on the Bresle, gives title to the Duc d'Aumale, and has two columns near the bridge where Henry IV., was wounded on his way from Rouen. The old fort stood about a dozen sieges. On the north side are some useful mineral [Sec. 2 waters; and the ruins of Auchy abbey are not far off. Neufchâtel (see Route 2) is 25 kil. further; thence to Dieppe 47 kil., or to Rouen 46 kil.] CORBIE (9 miles) has the eurious portal, &c., of a benedictine abbey, founded 664 by St. Bathilde. Coaches to Harlonnières and Rosières. ALBERT (10 miles), on a branch of the river Ancre, which makes a fine cascade here. It has a quarry, in which various fossils are found; and at the church is an image of "our Lady of Breberie," to whom the shepherds and shepherdesses of this part make an annual offering of cakes. Coach to [Peronne (22 kil. east-south-east), a sous préfecture and fortress, with 4,300 inhabitants, in the marshes of the Somme, was the old capital of Santerre. It has a castle, enclosing a very old tower, called Tour Hébert, where Charles the Simple (placed here by Heribert, Count of Vermandois) died a prisoner, 929, and where, too, the old fox Louis XI. was trapped by his vassal, Charles the Bold, as related in Scott's "Quentin Durward." Having been unsuccessfully besieged by the Spaniards, and by Henry of Nassau, 1536, it styled itself la Pucelle (the maid), but it was taken, 1815. It has an old gothic church, and Hôtel de Ville, with a belfry. At Château d'Applincourt, the famous League against the Protestants was signed by Henry III. and the Guises. Hotel-D'Angleterre.] ACHIET (11 miles.) Coach to Bapaume, a place as old as the eleventh century, fortified by Charles V. against France, but given up 1659. An artesian well was sunk here, 1723, by Feullon. It has a ruined castle. BOILEUX (5 miles). At 5 miles further is Arras. Hotels-De l'Europe (good); Petit St. Paul. A strongly fortified town, chief place of department Pas-de-Calais (formerly of Artois province, which gave title of Comte d'Artois to Charles X.), a third-class military station, seat of a Bishopric, Tribunal, College, Chamber of Manufactures, &c., in a fertile plain on the Scarpe. It was the Atrebates of Cæsar, and in St. Jerome's time (fifth century) was noted for its trade. The city, or old town, on the highest point, was built round the hermitage of St. Waest Route 10] ST. FOL-BETHUNE-DOUAI-LILLE. (founded in the 6th century), which afterwards beoame a large abbey, and has left some remains in the public Library (36,000 vols). The ville, or lower town, divided from the other by the brook Crinchen, has good houses and streets of I ewn stone, and adjoins the citadel, built by Vauban. Near the Hôtel de Ville, a good gothic building, are the great and little squares (place), surrounded with old flemish houses and arcades. Notre Dame Cathedral was rebuilt, 1832, in the grecian style, on the site of the old gothic one, destroyed by the partisans of the infamous Robespierre, who was born here. Other buildings worth notice are the Préfecture, Museum with remains of antiquity found here, the clock tower, deaf and dumb school, large barracks, riding and military schools, theatre. ramparts are strong and high, and the country may be soon laid under water. Damiens, who was broken on the wheel for trying to assassinate Louis XV., was also a native. At one time it was held by the Spaniards, who put up this rhyme on the gates Quand les Français prendront Arras, The which, when it came into French hands some one proposed to retain, merely suppressing thep. Manufactures of cotton, woollen, lace, soap, salt, beet-root sugar, linseed oil, pottery, leather; besides a trade in grain, wine, and spirits some of the latter being kept in the chalk cellars in the city part. "Arras" tapestry made here. Near this, at Plancy, is the society of St. Victor, founded 1841, by M. Collin, author of the Dictionnaire Infernal. At Mont St. Eloy (6 kil.) is a ruined abbey; and two stones at Acq, mark where Charles the Bold was defeated by Baldwin, 863. Coaches to Cambrai (see Route 11), Bethune, and St. Pol. [Lens (14 kil. north-north-east), an old place on the Eleux, where the Prince of Condé, in 1648, gained a victory over the Spaniards. Soap, spirits, leather, linseed oil, &c., are made. St. Pol (34 kil. north-west), on the old road to Montreuil, a sous-préfecture (population, 3,504), pleasantly seated on the Ternoise, in a healthy spot, where four great roads meet, and having traces of the old castle of the Counts of St. Pol. 27 Bethune (30 kil. north-north-west), another sous-préfecture on the old road to Calais, and a strong military place of the second class, on the river Brette and two canals, which meet here. The grand place (square) has, near the Hôtel de Ville, a curious and lofty spire tower or belfry. Much of the water is supplied by artesian wells, which were first tried here. It has a good trade. Population, 6,889. Hotels-De France; d'Angleterre; du Lion d'Or (Golden Lion). The wood of Dames Chartreuses offers a fine panorama.] From Arras, along the rail to Lille, you pass Roux (5 miles); Vitry (4 miles), on to DOUAI (5 miles), a strong town, and souspréfecture, having a cour impèriale, tribunal, college, and school for artillery and engineers, to which the Duke of Wellington was sent when a boy. It was once a seat of the Caluaci, in Belgic Gaul, and stands on the river Scarpe, which is joined to the Escaut, or Schelde, by a canal. Marlborough took it in the wars of Anne's time. The old walls are strengthened with several towers, and there are good walks on the ramparts. It has a large place (square), a gothic Hôtel de Ville, with a belfry tower over it, an arsenal (where the English prisoners were kept in the war), cannon foundry, public library of 30,000 vols., botanic garden, picture gallery, museum, theatre; and every other year an exhibition of works of industry takes place. At the English College for priests, founded by Cardinal Allen, the Douai version of the Old Testament was first published, 1609. Population, 18,793. Tapestry, sewing-thread, bone lace, &c., are made. Hotels-Du Commerce; du Noveau Monde (New World); de l'Europe; du Nord, &c. Coach to Cambrai (see Route 11). At Douai, the line to Valenciennes and Brussels parts off, as in Route 13. From this, the rail proceeds by CARVIN (3 miles), with its population of 5,000 starch-makers, &c.; and SECHLIN (6 miles); 6 miles further is Lille. Hotels-De l'Europe, Rue Basse, the first in the town, and recommended, though rather dear; de Gand; de la Cour Royale; de Flandre; du Nouveau Monde (New World); du Brabant; du Commerce (near the theatre); du 28 LILLE: HOTEL DE VILLE-BOURSE, ETC. France; du Lion d'Argent (Golden Lion), &c. Cafés, on Grande Place. Dinner, 21⁄2fr.; bed, 1}fr. Population 75,433. A large manufacturing town, capital of department du Nord (formerly of French Flanders), a strongly fortified post on the Belgian frontier, head quarters of the 16th military division, &c., standing in a fertile and populous plain, covered with windmills and factories, 15 leagues from the sea, on the Deule and the canal from the Scarpe to the Lys. It grew out of an abbey, founded about 840; was improved by Baldwin V., in 1047, and after many events, including the taking of it from the Spa niards, by Louis XIV., in 1667, and from the French, by Marlboro', in 1708, it was finally given up to France, 1713. In shape it is an oval, about 2,620 yards by 1,300 yards, entirely closed in by ramparts and ditches, strengthened by 15 bastions, by Fort St. Maurice, on the south east side, and a citadel of great extent on the west. The latter, one of Vauban's best, is five-sided, and considered almost impregnable. The Austrians tried to take it, 1792, but without success, a fact commemorated by a bronze figure, in the Grande Place, near the exchange, &c. Porte St. André is the oldest of its seven gates, having been built in 1670; the Porte de Paris has a triumphal arch, by Volans, built 1682, in honour of Louis XIV., whose bust is here, with figures of Hercules and Mars. The best streets are Rue Royal, Rue de Paris, Rue d' Esquermois, Rue St. Saveur, and Rue St. André. Most of the houses are modern and regular, and generally two stories high; many work people live in cellars. A broad esplanade, near the citadel is planted with trees, and watered by the Deule. The largest open part, next to the Grande Place, is the cattle and wood market, near the Douane (custom-house); some of the oldest houses are in this neighbourhood, with the public baths. Pont Neuf here, is a small bridge of 6 arches, built 1701, on the Grand Rivage, a branch of the Deule, where goods are landed. Pont Royal is ascended by steps and covered over. In this quarter, also, are the general hospital, founded 1783; the government tobacco factory, magazines, barracks, the artillery depôt, &c. The six parish churches are those of St. André, the best, restored since the revolution; St. Catherine, which has an altar piece by Rubens, and a high tower St. Etienne, having a good portal; [Sec. 2 St. Madeleine, a cupola and pictures; St. Saveur, which had a gothic spire battcred down, 1792; and the ancient gothic church of St. Maurice (begun 1022), with its side chapels, and Duc de Berri's mausoleum. Part of St. Peter's old tower is all that remains of that church. Near the Citadel, in Rue de la Barre, stands the Hôtel de Ville, called the Palais de Rihoult, when it belonged to the Dukes of Burgundy who began it in the thirteenth century; it is a gothic pile of various dates; and includes the tribunal of commerce (where are two pictures, by Wamps), and various official bureaus; also an old chapel, and a modern belfry. Charles V. and Henry VIII. visited it together, 1542. The Hôtel de la Préfecture is near the Place da Concert. Not far from Place St. Martin are the following. The Museum, in the old church of the Friars Minors, having several pictures including some by Vandyke, Rubens, &c, portraits of the Dukes, and valuable drawings by Raphael, Giotto, and others, given by Wicar, a native of Lille, who died at Rome, 1834. Next it is the old men's hospital, or Hôpital Comtesse, founded in the thirteenth century, by Countess Jeanne, daughter of the emperor, Baldwin IX.,and having a slender spire like a minaret. The Hôtel de Monnaie (or mint) adjoins the cirque, which they say marks the site of the Château de Buc, built by Lyderic, founder of the town. At the college is the public library, of 24,000 volumes, besides MSS. The Bourse stands in Grande Place; it was built 1652, with a square court inside. Behind it is the theatre, begun 1785, but since enlarged, and having a portico of six columns. A large Military Hospital it seen near the Porte Bethune, built 1765. The hospital St. Saveur is near that church, and the Hôtel Dieu. At the Administration des Hospices, are a picture by Vandyke, and the halbert of the famous Jeanne Maillote, leader of the towns-people against the insurgent Flemish, who attacked the place, 1582. There are several Casernes, or barracks, and magazines; abattoirs, or slaughter-houses, schools of medicine, painting, &c.; and a botanic garden. Here died, 1852, an old veteran, aged 88, ealled Coulombon l'Immortel. Among other escapes, when taken in the Vendéan war and Route 10] HAZEBROUCK-ST. OMER-ARDRES. shot for not giving the pass-word, he fell pierced with ten balls and four stabs of the bayonet, and yet survived sixty years after. Revs. MM. Marzian and Deboeck are protestant pastors here. Chief Manufactures are cottons and linen, Lille thread, lace, soap, chemicals, beet-root sugar, linseed oil, eaux-de-vie, and various other articles. Conveyances, by railway to Calais, Dunkirk, Brussels, Mons, Paris, &c.; by coach, to Bethune, Cambrai, &c.; also by a baraque to these and other places, on the canals. Cysoing, to the south-east, has part of an old abbey, and a pyramid in honour of Louis XV., who was here after the battle of Fontenoy, [From Lille, on the rail to Ghent or Gand, you pass Roubaix (5 miles), a large town of 31,000 people and seat of the cotton manufactures. Hotels-De France; du Commerce. Tourcoing (1 miles), noted for its linge-detable, or table linen. Population 26,900. Hotel-Du Cynge. Mouscron (3 miles), where carriages are changed for BELGIUM. Travellers are advised not to have cigars, tobacco, lace, &c., about them, without declaring it at the douane, as the regulations are very strict.] From Lille, on the rail to Calais, you pass ARMENTIERES (3 miles), on the Lys, and noted for its grain, linen, &c. Population 8,000. STEENWERCK (5 miles). BAILLEUL (2 miles), an ancient looking place, with old carved houses, St. Waast's old church, and a Jesuits' college. Population 10,140. STRAZEELE (5 miles), HAZEBROUCK (4 miles) where the line to Dunkirk turns off, is a sous-préfecture of 7,400 souls, in a fertile spot on a branch of the Lys. It has a large church, built 1490-1520, with a tower of 276 feet; a new Hôtel de Ville, fronted by a portico of twelve pillars; a tobacco factory at the old augustine convent; a library of 4000 volumes. Linen, soap, &c. are made. Hotel-Des Trois Chevaux (three horses). Coaches to Lillers and Aire. [Lillers (14 kil. south-south-west), in depart ment Pas-de-Calais, on the fertile banks of the Nave, where one of the first artesian 29 wells was bored in France. The fountains rise up in jets. Population 5,200. Pottery, linseed oil, leather are made, and bleaching and printing carried on. Aire (13 kil. west-south-west) a third class fortress, where the Lys and Laquette meet the St. Omer and Bassée canals. It has a belfry of the last century; large barracks; and St. Paul's gothic church, in which is a ridiculous picture of Herodias with the Baptist's head. Mallebranche was a native. Population 8,300. Woollens, hats, soap, starch, oil, paper, spirits, &c., are made Hotels-D'Angleterre; de France.] EBLINGHEM (6 miles). ST. OMER (6 miles), a fortified town of the third class, and sous-préfecture in department Pas-de-Calais, in a marshy spot on the Aa, where six great roads meet. It is surrounded by the canals and gardens of a Flemish-speaking population. St. Audomar founded a church here, and gave his name to the town. Louis XIV. took it from Flanders, 1677. The old cathedral church of Notre Dame was begun in the 14th century, on the site of St. Audomar's, whose tomb it contains, besides good carved work, a picture by Rubens, &c.; it is 321 feet long, and worth examination; the clock shews the moon's changes, the months, the signs of the zodiac, &c. Opposite it stands a tower only of St. Bertin's abbey, where Childeric III. died; It was one of the finest in this part. The Jesuits' college, built 1615-36, for English Roman Catholics, is now occupied by a commercial school; its church is worth notice. The Hôtel de Ville is modern; the museum has some antiquities; and there are 18,000 volumes in the public library. An arsenal was built 1781. Linens, flannels, paper, &c., are made, and a good trade carried on. Hotels-De la Poste; du Commerce. In the neighbourhood are Clairmarais abbey (5 kil.), and the old castle of Arques (2 kil) near the Sept Ecluses, or seven locks of the Aa, which falls 40 feet here, in its descent to Gravelines. The next station is WATTEN (5 miles), the old Itium prom. to which the sea came up in Cæsar's time. It has an old watch tower on the hill, AUDRUICQ (7 miles). Coach to Bourbourg. ARDRES (5 miles), a small fortified town, near the Field of the Cloth of Gold, where Henry VIII. and Francis I. met; so called from the splendid equipages displayed, of which there is a curious picture at Hampton Court. All this part is now covered with willows and flax fields, round the village of Les Saules (population, 900), which grows as much at £80,000 worth yearly. The écoucheurs, or scutchers, prepare steeped flax for the spinners, working in little clay-built buts, or boutiques. Coach to Guines, once a fortress, with 4,700 souls, and a trade in cattle and poultry. | Sec. 2 a long square, surrounded by ramparts (which have a view of the English coast), and ditches, and defended by several forts, as Forts Rouge and Vert (red and white), on the piers; another on the quay; Fort Nieulay on the south-west; while Cardinal Richelieu's strong citadel, to the west, commands the whole. The shallow harbour is the mouth of the river de Hames, between the piers, one of which is three-quarters of a mile long, with a pillar on the spot where Louis XVIII. set his foot in 1814. It was deepened in 1842, but passengers sometimes land in boats still. A gate by Richelieu (the Porte du Havre, which figures in Hogarth's picture of the 'Roast beef of England,') leads from the pier. It was built in 1685. The streets are narrow, the houses chiefly of brick, and common looking. In the Grand Place, or Place d'Armes, are the Lighthouse and the Hôtel de Ville, with busts of St. Pierre, the Duc de Guise, and Richelieu in front; inside is the library of 6,000 volumes. The church, built by the English, is a cross-shaped, gothic structure, with a tower, and contains 11 chapels, a fine marble altar, and a painting by Vandyke. St. Pierre is in Basse-Ville or Lower Town, in ST. PIERRE (6 miles), the birth-place of the famous Eustache St. Pierre. At 14 mls. beyond is Calais. Hotels-Hôtel Dessin, one of the oldest and most respectable establishments on the continent; it is highly and deservedly recommended. Hôtel Quillacq; de Paris, opposite the railway station and English steam-packet wharf, quiet, reasonable, and comfortable. Cafés -Marine, Legrant, Eudes, Bellevue. Dinners, 2 to 3 fr.; bed, 1 to 14 fr. Good private lodgings, 20 to 50 fr. a month. The railway station, douane, and passport office are on the pier; passports are visé without delay, and they may be procured of the consul for 4s. 6d. Passengers landing here direct to Marseilles, Brussels, &c., should say so, as they need not give up their pass-the south-east, where many hands (English and ports; and luggage, if merely going across France others) are employed in the tulle and lace to Belgium and Germany, may be plombé (sealed), factories. to save examination till the end of the journey. Luggage, direct to Paris, is not examined till arrival there. On embarking here for London a permis must be asked for. Luggage direct to London by rail is not examined at Dover or Folkestone, but at the London Bridge Station. English consul, E. Bonham; also consuls for Belgium, Holland, &c. English chapel in Rue des Prêtres; banker, M. Guilbert, Grande Place. There are several reading rooms and collections of natural history, antiquities, &c. High water at moon's full and change, 11h. 45m. At the Museum (open three days a-week, from 10 to 5) are Blanchard, the æronaut, and car, and some pictures, including Correggio's 'Vierge au Bandeau,' given to the town by the Princess of Canino (Lucien Bonaparte's wife), who was born here in 1788. In Cour de Guise is the old hotel, which belonged to the merchants of the wool staple, and where Henry VIII lodged. There are a large barracks, a salle de spectacle, or theatre, an old clock-tower, a navigation school, &c., and good baths, to which reading, dancing, and other rooms are attached. A stone outside the Bou logne gate marks where the unfortunate Lady Population, 10,700. A well-known half-English port and fortified town of the first class, in a flat corn and flax country on the Pas-de-Calais (which Englishmen call the Straits of Dover), about 25 miles (or two hours' steam passage) from Dover, to which it is joined by the electric tele-road to which, between Guines and Ardres, was graph. It was taken, after 11 months' siege (when Eustace St. Pierre defended it, 1347), by the English, who kept it till the Duke of Guise captured it in Queen Mary's time (1588). The Spaniards held it for two years, 1596-8. It makes the famous field of the Cloth of Gold, where Henry VIII. and Francis I. met in 1520. The fishermen live in the suburb of Courgaine. Trade in lace, fish, eggs, spirits, salt, and steam-engines for pressing linseed oil. |