Route 11]

Conveyances by rail to Lille, Paris, Brussels, &c. (See Bradshaw's Continental Guide); by coach to Gravelines, Dunkirk, and Boulogne (see Route 12). By steamer to Dover, 2 hours, or (with rail) 6 hours to London; to Ramsgate, 3 hours; to London, 10 hours. The electric telegraph is laid down to Boulogne, as well as along the rail to Paris.

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decayed (population 1,800), had once three bridges over the Oise, and a palace, in which Charles Martel died, 741. His son (Pepin) called a council here, and his grandson (Charlemagne) built a chapel. Charles the Bold held the synod of Soissons here, and gave his daughter to Ethelwolf of England. It was burnt by the Normans, and restored by Charles V.; but few traces are

GRAVELINES (22 kil.), on a fiat, dreary coast, a port cf 5,200 people, at the Aa's mouth, where Henry VIII. embarked in 1520. It has an arsenal, and a monument by Girardon, at the church. Flax, hemp, corn, colza, &c., are abundant in this country of dykes and willows. Hotel Lesur.

At 20 kil. further is Dunkirk (see Route 14).

ROUTE 11.

Creil to St. Quentin, Cambrai, &c. By rail to St. Quentin, 1024 kils., or 63 miles; four trains a-day, in about 3 hours.

strengthened, and the town called Villeneuve (new town).

[At 10 kils. south-east is Crépy, on the Grand Morin, founded in the tenth century, along with St. Arnould's Abbey. It was the capital of the Valois country, and a strong place, having a palace called Bouville. Only one (St. Denis, with a good choir,) of its five churches remains, and ruins of another. There are also a tower and part of the château fort. The English took it in 1431, and the leaguers in 1588; but it is best known for the treaty of 1544 between Francis I. and the Emperor Charles V.] COMPIEGNE (10 miles), a sous-préfecture of

kil.

kil.

63

8

8

8 Tergnier-La-Fère, 7 Montescourt...... 10 St. Quentin......... 12

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PONT-STE-MAXENCE (6 miles), in a pleasant part of the Oise, under a wooded hill, has, near the remains of an old one, a good three-arched bridge (pont), by Péronnet, on a level, resting on groups of open pillars, not solid piles. Some old houses are left, though it suffered much in past times. Much grain is sold. Moncel Abbey ruins are turned into a wine depôt. Coaches to Gournay-sur-Aronde and Senlis (see Route 10.) [The former (20 kil. north-east,) was the birthplace of Montaigne's adopted daughter, Mademoiselle de Gournay.]

Before the next station, you pass Sarron, on the Oise, near the château of Plessis-Villette, which belonged to Voltaire's niece, Madame de Villette; they shew here his statue on a pedestal containing his heart, his desk and sofa, &c.

VERBERIE (6 miles), on a hillside, now much

Aisne joins. It is a quiet place, with narrow ill-built streets. Near its great forest was the roman Compendium, and a small hunting seat of the time of Clovis and Charles the Bold, who built an abbey and château. Louis le Begue and Louis V. were buried here; and it was held for Charles VII. by Jeanne d'Arc, when she was taken prisoner (1430), in a sally from Vieux Pont gate, by the Burgundians, who sold her to the English. The château, as rebuilt by Louis XV., and finished by Napoleon (who met Marie Louise here), was the residence of Charles of Spain in 1808. The noble front towards the forest is 624 ft. wide. In the grand gallery, of 100 ft., are Napoleon's victories, painted by Girodet.

St. Corneille, or the Abbey Church, contains some old royal tombs, and had the organ (the first brought into Europe) which Constantine Copro. nymous, the Greek emperor gave to Pepin, 755. St. André and St. Antoine are gothic; St. Jacques partly in the renaissance style. At the Carmelites is the tomb of the Count of Toulouse, by Lemoine. One of the best buildings is the picturesque gothic Hôtel de Ville, with its delicate carvings, high roof, carved spire turrets, and the

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fine spire belfry in the middle. The three-arched Pont Neuf has a pyramid 33 feet high in the middle of it. There a public library of 28,000 volumes, and a museum of antiquities. Formerly muslins and linens were made. The walks around are pleasant; an avenue of nearly a mile leads from the château to the forest, which covers 29,600 acres (46 square miles), and is pierced with 275 leagues of road; one, called Brunehaut, was a Roman way. Hotels-De la Cloche (Clock), du Lion d'Argent (Golden Lion). Coaches to Soissons, Pierrefonds.

[Soissons (35 kil. east), a sous-préfecture of 10,200 souls, (department Aisne,) a fortified town, and seat of a diocess, in a fertile valley on the Aisne; was the chief hold of the Suessones when Cæsar took it. Clovis made it the capital of the Franks (486), after routing its Roman governor Syagrius. Pepin deposed Childeric here, 752, and Charles the Simple was beaten, 922, by his competitor Robert. In 1315, it suffered from the Burgundians and Armagnacs; the Huguenots ravaged it 1567; and it was taken and retaken twice over 1814. It is well-built, and defended by ramparts. The gothic cathedral of the twelfth century, on the site of that which Pepin was crowned in, by St. Boniface, has a tower 160 feet high, and Rubens' "Adoration of the Shepherds," given they say by him to the Cordeliers here, in gratitude for their care of him when sick. St. Pierre is in the Lombard style, small and round, with buttresses and a dome; St. Leger, in that of the renaissance; only the fine gothic portal and spire are left of St. Jean-desVignes Abbey, on a hill, founded in the eleventh century. The old château, on the site of the palace, is flanked by heavy round towers. Other buildings are, the Intendance, the college, Hôtel Dieu, house of correction, museum and library of 19,000 volumes, two barracks, theatre, &c. bridge.leads over to St. Vaast. In the neighbourhood are some remains of St. Medard's Abbey, founded 545, with the dungeon where Louis-le-Debonnaire was for a time confined by his rebellious sons. Clotaire, son of Clovis, king of Soissons (which took in all the north-east of France) was buried Childeric I., Clotaire II., the Duke

in it.

A

[Sec. 2

of Mayenne (the chief of the league against Henry IV.), and Collot d'Herbois, the infamous terrorist, were natives. Linen and pottery are made; trade in grain, vegetables, cattle, &c. Hotels-Du Lion Rouge (Red Lion), de la Croix d'Or (Golden Cross). Coaches to Laon (33 kil. further-Route 17a), Rheims, Château-Thierry, &c. At 12 kil. south-east of Compiègne, near one end of its forest, are the picturesque walls and towers of Pierrefonds Castle, a vast ruin on a hill. It was so strong that a determined soldier, Rieux, in 1592, held out against three or four of Henry the Fourth's commanders, and was at last only bought over with gold. In 1617, 15,000 men invested it and took it after six day's continual firing, when it was dismantled. It is one of the finest remains of antiquity in France.] THOURETTE (2 miles).

OURSCAMPS (5 miles).

NOYON (4 miles), the roman Noviodunum, became the seat of a bishop, 511, and was the place where Hugh Capet was elected king, 987. It stands on a hill side, among gardens, in the valley of Chaunay, on the Vorse, near the Oise; and is well bufit, having four gates, and the house in which John Cauvin, or Calvin, was born, 1609, his father being diocesan secretary, &c. He went to the school of the Capettes here, and by favour of the bishop, received a benefice when he was only twelve; two years after, to escape the plague, he was sent to Paris. The cathedral church is chiefly romanesque, of the thirteenth century (an earlier one was begun by Pepin), 35! feet long, and 217 high at the west towers, Trade in grain, leather, linen, cottons, coal, &c. Population, 6,300. Hotel-Du Nord. Coaches to Roye, Nosles, Guiscard, Ham. [Roye (15 kil. north-west), a small old place on the Avre, in department Somme (part of Picardy), is said to be the ancient Rodium, and has suffered from eleven sieges and three plagues. It has a church with excellent stained windows, a carved timber house on the Placo, publie baths, mineral springs, and manufactures of stockings, &c. Population, 4,000. A sect of Guerinets, so called after their leader, Guerin, the curé here, were extirpated 1626.

Nesle (10 kil. north-east of this), gave name

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to one of the oldest marquisates in France, and has an old church in which nearly all its inhabitants were butchered by Charles the Bold, 1472.

Flam (18 kil. north-north-east of Noyon), on the Somme, is as old as 875, and known for its moated château or state prison, built 1470, by the Count St. Pôl. On the gate is his motto in gothic letters, "Mon Mieux" (my best); the great round keep stands 108 feet high, 108 diameter, and 36 feet thick. The ministers of Charles X., Louis Napoleon (now emperor), and Cabrera, the Carlist, were confined here. The church has a good choir, and carvings of scriptural subjects. General Foy was a native.] APPILLY (5 miles), in department Aisne. CHAUNY (4 miles), a decayed fortified town, on the Oise, where the St. Quentin canal joins, in a fertile plain. Linens are made. Population, 4,290. The canal opens a way between the Oise and Somme.

TERGNIER-LA-FERE (5 miles).

Coaches to

La Fère, Laon, Marle, Vervins, Moncornet. [La Fère, a little east, on the Oise, where the Serre joins, is an old fortress, where the Spaniards, in 1592, met the Leaguers about putting a Spanish prince upon the throne instead of Henry IV. The Allies took it 1815, after six month's siege. It has the oldest artillery school in France (1719), with a large arsenal and barracks.] MONTESCOURT, 6 miles.

St. Quentin (7 miles), on a hill between the Somme and St. Quentin Canal, is a souspréfecture (in department Aisne) of 24,000 souls, who carry on here, as the centre of a wide district, thriving manufactures of cotton, thread, table linens, silk, tulle, muslin, shawls, steam. engines, oil, soap, &c. It was the Roman Augusta-Vivamanduorum, but called St. Quentin from 884, after the martyr. It suffered from the Vandals, 401; Attila and his Huns, 451; the Normans, in the eighth and ninth centuries; and was made the head of the Vermandois country by Louis I. for his nephew Pepin. Louis XI. and his rival, Charles of Burgundy, frequently contested it. In 1557, it was defended by Coligny against 50,000 Spaniards under Philip II (King of England) and Emanuel of Savoy, but taken, after a long siege, and a battle lost close to H

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it by Montmorency-a success which led Philip, in fulfilment of a vow he had made, to build the Escurial. The houses are modern; three faubourgs stretch beyond the site of its old ramparts. Overlooking the town, on the hill-top, is the fine Church, a large and imposing gothic specimen, about 420 feet long from the large Fulrad porch to the Virgin chapel, and 127 feet high in the nave (which is 212 feet long); it has 110 windows, some stained, and 42 feet high, with 23 side chapels, and 78 pillars; a tall spire used to rise above the square tower; it was a cathedral till the bishop removed to Noyon.

The Hôtel de Ville, in Grande Place, built 1509, in the gothic style, is worth notice for its quaint carvings and lantern tower, in which is a good chime of bells. There are also a college, palais de justice, library of 17,000 vols., new theatre, gas-works, besides a conseil-de-prud' hommes (who arrange prices, &c., between masters and workmen), schools of design, botanic garden, hospitals, &c. The canal, which is part of the system called Canal de Picardie, unites the Oise and Somme to the Schelde, near Cambrai; one of its tunnels, near Bellicourt, is 5,677 metres long (3 miles). Charlevoix, the Jesuit historian, was a native. Traces of three Roman ways are seen; the old town kept its Latin name for a long time in the form of Aoste. HotelsD'Angleterre, de l'Ange (Angel), du Cygne (Swan). Coaches to Cambrai, Le Câteau, Avesnes, Guise.

(a) GUISE (26 kil. east-north-east) a small thirdclass fortress, in a pretty spot on the Oise, is as old as 1050, and was given, 1520, to Claude de Lorraine, first Duke of Guise. Mary, Queen of Scots was his grand-daughter; and Francis, a grandson, surnamed the Balafré, was he who took Calais from the English. The old chateau, 164 feet above the town, now used as a barrack, has a round keep left; Henry IV., against whom the Guises headed the League, burnt it, 1594. Jean de Luxembourg, who sold the Maid of Orleans to the English, and Count Desmoulins, were natives.

(b) CAMBRAI (38 kil. north of St. Quentin), on the road to Mezières, a sous-préfecture in department Nord, an ancient and stronglyfortified town of the second class, in the old province of Flanders, and seat of a bishopric, but of an archdiocess when held by the ex