Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

Route 24]

SENS JOIGNY-TONNERRE

63

amphitheatre. A council under St. Bernard met | le-Roi, a pretty place on the Yonne, was built here, 1140, and condemned the works of A bélard, and here Pope Alexander sought refuge 1163, as did Becket the year after. It was besieged by Henry IV., in 1590, and taken bythe Allies, 1814.

St. Etienne's Cathedral is a fine structure in the early gothic style, replacing one burnt 970, which was built by St. Savinien on the site of a Pagan temple. It has three porches and two towers, a large and richly decorated choir, rose and other windows stained by J. Cousin, a native; a marble mausoleum of Louis XVI., by Coustou, with figures of Time, Conjugal Love, Religion, &c.; the chapel of the Virgin; that of St. Savinien, with a basrelief of his martyrdom; the beautiful bas-relief, nearly fifty feet long, round Cardinal Duprat's tomb, and the primate's throne. In the chapterhouse they shew Becket's mitre and other parts of his dress, besides portraits of all the prelates. The chapel of the Hôtel Dieu deserves notice for its vaults, &c.

At the Hôtel do Ville, which is in the renaissance style, is the museum, containing the original MS. of the Office des Fous, a festival, like that of the boy-bishop, held here till the sixteenth century. The public library of 12,000 volumes is placed in the college. There are a priests seminary, a nunnery in St. Columbe's abbey, a salle de spectacle on the esplanade, paths, &c.. No. 102, in Rue Dauphine is an ancient timbered house, with a carved genealogy of Jesus Christ on the face of it. Outside the town is the old château de Fleurigny; the hermitage of St. Bon stands on a hill, 328 feet above the river. Razors and other steel goods are made, besides leather, &c.; it has a good trade. Population, 10,100. Hotels-De l'Ecu (French Crown); de Paris; du Grand Cerf (Great Deer). Coaches to Courtenay (22 kil. south-west; see Route 25). Château Renard, Villeneuve l'Archevêque. Troyes (see Route 26), is 34 kil. further.

[Rigny de Fêron, 25 kil. east-north-east, up the Vannes, is remarkable for a church with a fine window, stained by Cousin, with the genealogy of Christ, and the life of St. Martin. Cardinal de Bérulles was a native; he takes his name from a village to the southeast, which has one of the best built churches In the department.]

VILLENEUVE-SUR-YONNE (8 miles), or Ville

by Louis VII. in 1163, and has the tower of a royal château left, two gothic gates of thirteenth century, and a church partly as old, and 220 feet long, with a renaissance portal. Population, 5400. ST. JULIEN-DE-SAULT (5 miles), on the river, opposite Ville-Vallier.

JOIGNY (7 miles), a sous-préfecture at the bridge on the Yonne, takes its name from Flavius Jovinus, the roman founder. It is steep in some parts, but has good points of view, and a long quay on the river. The Hôtel Dieu was built by Jeanne de Valois, and the halfruined château by Cardinal Gondi, of the fifteenth century, includes St. Jean's church, on the hill. The law court (tribunal) is placed in St. Andre's old priory chapel. Population, 6,100. The branch rail turns off here to Auxerre (17 miles), and Clamecy (see Route 28). Coach to St. Amand-en-Puissaye.

LAROCHE (5 miles), Brienson (5) miles), are the next stations.

ST. FLORENTIN (5 miles), on the Armançon, where the Armance joins, and where the Canal de Bourgogne goes off by an aqueduct over the latter, is in a pleasant spot, with good prospects, especially from a hill near the priory. The church was begun 1376, on the site of a rural château, and has some stained glass, with a good choir &c.

Coaches to Chailly, Ervy, Chablis, and Troyes (see Route 26). [Ervy (13 kil. east-north-east) on a rocky height above the Amance, in department Aube, commanding a fine view around, has some old houses and a porte or gate of its ancient walls.]

FLOGNY (7 miles), near the Armançon, which has a roman camp on its banks.

[At Pontigny, 10 kil. to the south-west, on theSerain, which a bridge (pont) crosses, is the fine gothic churchof the cistercian abbey (founded 1114), 310 feet long, 71 wide, and 67 high.] TONNERRE (8 miles), a sous-préfecture of 4,500 people, in a fertile wine country, on a rocky hill over the Armançon, belongs to the Marquis de Louvois, whose old château was the seat of Margaret of Sicily, St. Louis' sister-in-law, and founder of the rich hospital here for the sick. It has on the face a large gnomon or dial, placed there 1786, by Ferouillat, a monk of St. Nicholas' old abbey, which was founded 980. Parts of the

64

TANLAY-MONTBARD-SEMUR.

town walls remain. The best promenade is the Pâtis. In Faubourg Bourberreau a spring called Fosse Dionne, falls into a basin 42 feet diameter. St. Pierre's church, near the hospital, over the town, has a gothic clock tower, and carved effigies of Marguerite, and the Marquis de Louvois, who was Louis the Sixteenth's war minister,--the latter by Girardon. There is a large horse market (marché-aux-chevaux) here. It was sacked by the English, 1359, and ravaged by the plague 1569 and 1632. The Chevalier d'Eon was a native. Trade in white and red wine, forcemeats (andouillettes), snails, stone for sculpture, &c. Hotels-De Lion d'Or (Golden Lion); de la Poste. Coaches to Chablis, Chaource, Avallon, Auxerre, Les Kicys, and Troyes.

[Chablis (12 kil. west-south-west), on the Serain, is noted for its white wines, and stands near traces of a roman way to Auxerre. Population, 2,000.]

TANLAY (5 miles), has the fine château of the Marquis de Tanlay, one of the best preserved in this part of France, and a specimen of the renaissance style, which succeeded the gothic. It was begun (on the site of an earlier) 1550, by François de Coligny, brother of the admiral who was killed on Bartholomew's day, and finished 1642, from designs by Le Muet, having cost about four million francs. It forms a high roofed quadrangle, with low round domed towers at each end of the open side, and a gateway in the middle. In the interior is a large picture gallery, with frescos of the leaders of Coligny's day; also a highly decorated chapel; and the grounds comprise gardens, avenues, a canal, château d'eau (water works), park, &c.

After passing the two tunnels of Lezine and Passy (about 1,740 and 3,280 ft. long), you come to ANCY-LE-FRANC (8 miles), among forests and forges, on the Armançon, with a fine château belonging to the Marquis de Louvois, built between 1555 and 1622, from the designs of Primaticcio; a square pile with paintings at each corner, and decorated with frescos from the Pastor Fido, by Nicolo del Abate. Coaches to Chatillon (36 kil east; see Route 26), Avallon (34 kil, south-west; see Route 28).

NUITS-SOUS-RAVIERE (3 miles). Coaches to Bourbons-les-Bains, Chatillon, Chaumont, Barsur-Aube, Langres, Bar-sur-Seine, Froyes (see Routes 26 and 27).

AISY-SUR-ARMANÇON (5 miles).

[Sec. 4

MONTBARD (6 miles), a pretty spot on the Brenne, in department Côte d'Or, the birthplace of Buffon and Daubenton. The château of the former stands among gardens and avenues, on the hill, at the top of which are the walls of the great naturalist's study, called the tower of St. Louis. Population, 2,400. Coaches to Semur, Saulieu, Autun (see Route 28), Avallon, Chatillon, Chaumont, Langres, Neufchâteau (see Route 19). [Semur (14 kil. south), on a picturesque granite rock over the Armançon (crossed by a high one-arched bridge, and another), is a sous-préfecture of 4,200 souls, and was the old fortified capital of the Auxois district in Burgundy, to which Henry IV., in the troubles of the League, 1490, transferred the Dijon parliament. It is divided into three parts, the Bourg, the Donjon, and the Château; the last is now a barrack, and the four great towers of the donjon are close to the bridge. Notre Dame church, built 1065, by Robert I., 213 feet long, has a triple portal between square towers in the front, an ancient pulpit, and bas-reliefs over the west porch, of the death of the founder's predecessor, Dalmace, whom they say he poisoned. A manuscript of the eleventh century is at the library; which contains 15,000 volumes; there are a college, theatre, new abattoir, &c.

Salmasius was a native; his defence of Charles I. produced Milton's 'Defensio pro populo Anglicano.' Several falls of the river are near, and at Mont-Auxois is a roman camp. Druggets and coarse woollens are made; trade in wine, cattle, corn, fruit,honey, &c. Hotels-De la Côte d'Or; du Dauphin. Saulieu (25 kil. south-south-west of this), an old walled-up place, among woods and lakes, having two ancient churches, with traces of a roman temple, and a way to Autun. Vauban was born at St. Leger-de-Fouche roise, near this.]

LES LAUMES (9 mls.), is near Alise-St. Reine the Alesia of Cæsar, which Vercingetorix helc for seven months against him. St. Reine abbey has good sulphur baths, and is not far froic Flavigny dominican priory, lately established by Abbé Lacordaire. Coaches to Semur, Saulieu, Avallon, Vitteaux, and Pouilly.

[Vitteaux (10 kil. south), a pretty little place

Route 24]

BLAISY TUNNEL-DIJON: CATHEDRA L.

on the Brenne, among vineyards, rocks, and woods, with an old château, razed 1638. Woollens are made, and it is noted for its prunes, &c.]

VERREY (13 miles) has a fine château, used for a department school of agriculture. Coaches to St. Seine and Vitteaux.

[St. Seine, or Seine l'Abbaye (- kil. northeast), in a deep valley among the hills, has a good church, which belonged to a bene. dictine abbey, founded, 525, by Seyne, son of Comte de Mémont.]

BLAISY-BAS (5 miles), a small village, remarkable for its tunnel, opened 1849, after 3 years' labour, as many as 2,500 men being sometimes employed by the contractor, M. Debains. Its length is 4,100 metres (13,452 feet, or 24 miles), and it runs through a mountain, 1,940 feet above the sea, or 643 above the railway. Though the tunnels of Mauvage (on the Rhine and Marne Canal) and La Nerthe (on the Avignon and Marseilles Railway) exceed it by a length of 500 or 600 metres, this is on a larger scale, and is, in truth, one of the greatest works of the kind in Europe. The cost was above £400,000. falls towards Dijon, in approaching which the country is so hilly that the line is a succession of tunnels and viaducts. Five tunnels have a length of 2,624 feet; and of nine viaducts, four are 660 to 1,080 feet long, and two on a double row of arches. Coaches to Sombernon (which has remains of a fine castle of the dukes of Burgundy), Commarin, Arnay-le-Duc, Autun (see Route 28), Pouilly, and Vitteaux.

It

MALAIN (5 miles), the next station, is approached by a viaduct 65 feet high. That of Combe-de-Fain, on a double row of arches, is 147 feet high.

PLOMBIERES (4 miles), in a pleasant spot, has a good church, and a country seat of the Bishop of Dijon, which is 2 miles beyond, through deep cuttings in the rock. The terminus commands a view of the mountains of Côte d'Or, and the pinnacles and towers of the old city of

Dijon. Hotels-Du Parc, a first-rate house, and highly recommended; de la Cloche; de la Galère; du Lion d'Or; du Chapeau Rouge; du Geneve. Cafes-Thibault, in Rue de la Liberté; Jussaume, near the theatre; de la Comédie, &c. French Protestant Chapel, Rev. A. Pertuzon. Bankers, Dunnoyer and Co., Marion and Co. K

65

Population, 28,000. A fine old town, the capital of department Côte d'Or (formerly of Burgundy seat of a bishopric, a university (or college), a military division, &c., and centre of the Burgundy wine district; is in a rich plain on the Ourche, where the Suzon joins it, not far from the Cite d'Or hills. It was the roman Diio and after being a separate lordship, came to the dukes of Burgundy, who resided here, in what is now the museum. The streets are irregular, but clean and well-paved; the houses of stono1 seldom more than two stories high. Water is brought to a reservoir from a distance of 15 miles. There are five gates in the old walls, which are planted, and surrounded (outside) by handsome public walks, such as the Retraite, Creux d'Enfer and its fountain, Cours Fleury, the Marronniers, near the Guillaume Gate, the Jardin d'Arquebuse or botanic garden (where there is an enormous poplar, 25 feet round, planted 1550), and the Parc, laid out by Le Nôtre,near the Ourche. The chief buildings are

St. Benigue's Cathedral, a gothic pile of the twelfth century, 227 feet long, by 93 wide, and 89 high, having a good wooden spire, 328 feet high; the martyrdom of Stephen over the portal (by Bouchardon), and the tombs of Philippe le Hardi and his son, Jean sans Peur (whose bodies were discovered in good preservation, 1841).

The old cathedral of Notre Dame, built be tween 1252 and 1334, is 151 feet long, and includes a good porch, from which the statues have been torn away; a well-balanced roof, a group of the Assumption (by Dubois). The ancient clock made by Jacques Marques, a Dutchman, was given by Philippe le Hardi in 1382. St. Michael's church, of the sixteenth century, is a mixture of gothic and italian (or renaissance)styles, about 200 ft. long, with a portal by H. Sambin. St. Anne's, at the orphans' hospital, has a dome 52 ft. across.

Le Palais des Etats, in Place d'Armes, which belonged to the dukes, and was afterwards used by the provincial states, has been new fronted. What remains of the old palace are the great tower (now the observatory), finished by Charles the Bold, the guard-room, the kitchen, and carved mantel-piece, 30 feet high. Here are kept the archives of the duchy, a cabinet of natural history, a library of 45,000 vols. (besides 630 MSS. and 2,400 medals), and a museum, which includes pictures, the cup of St. Bernard

66

GRAY-BEAUNE-CHALONS-SUR-SAONE.

(who was born at Fontaines, 2 kil. off), and the fine effigies of dukes Philippe and Jean, which b.fore the revolution stoodin the Chartreuse convent (on the Saumur road). The préfecture and palais de justice are large buildings; the theatre, in Place St. Etienne, is another, being 200 feet by 70, with a portico of eight pillars. St. Etienne's old church is a market. public baths are in Place d'Armes. There are besides a general hospital, cavalry barracks, a college, school of arts, botanic garden, &c.

The

Bossuet (Bishop of Meaux), Crébillon, Piron, Daubenton, the Duc de Bassano (Maret) were natives. Trade in wine (Chambertin, Beaune, Vougeot, &c.), grain, wool, leather, vinegar, good mustard, &c.; a few woollens, cottons, and silks are made.

Convevances, by railway, to Paris, &c., and to Chalons (thence by steamer to Lyons, in all 18 hours). Coaches to Nancy (see Route 16), Mulhouse (28 hours, Pontarlier, Besançon (see Route 30; a railway is projected in this direction), Cray, Dôle (see Route 29), Geneva.

[Gray (50 kil. north-east), up the Saône, where it becomes navigable, is a sous-préfecture of 6,600 persons (department Haute-Saône), on a hill-side, and was the favourite seat of Philippe-le-Long's wife, Jeanne, where as many as ten religious houses were founded. It was fortified, 1420, and suffered cruelly in the civil wars; the streets are crooked and old fashioned. Parts of the castle are left; and it has also a good bridge and quay, to which steamers from Dijon come; a Hôtel de Ville, built 1568, a library of 6,000 vols., salle de spectacle, and a very superior mill, with 14 wheels, for grinding corn, oil, tan, &c. Hotel-Du Sauvage.

At 18 kil. north-west of it is Fontaine-Francaise, marked by a pillar, where Henry IV., with a small force, fought the Duc de Mayenne, with 18,000, in 1595.]

From Dijon, on the railway to Chalons-surSaône, near the Côte d'Or hills, and through the Burgundy wine district, you pass La Baraque and GEVREY, or GIVRAY (6 miles), in a picturesque Valley, near the vineyards of Chambertin, Chambolle, Morey, Gilly, &c.

VOUGEOT (3 miles), where the finest Burgundy wine is made, 6 to 8 fr. a bottle.

Norrs (3 miles), on the Mezin, under Côte

[Sec. 4

Nuitonne, with its two churches, is near the vineyards of Romanée, Richebourg, St. George's, Musigny, &e.

CORGOLOIN (3 miles).

BEAUNE (5 miles), a sous-préfecture, under the Côte d'Or, and centre of the wine trade, with 11,500 people, on the Bouzoize, having Chancellor Rollin's hospital, founded 1443, in the gothic style (with a court, &c.); also a library of 25,000 vols. and museum, two old churches, a belfry of the fourteenth century, a corn market (halle au blé), the fountain of Aigue, public gardens and baths, a theatre, &c. Monge, the mathematician, was a native Hotels De France; du Commerce; du Chevreuil.

The vineyards of Pomard, Volnay, &c., are near. Coaches to Nolay, Autun, Moulins, Arnay-le-Duc, and Bligny.

[Nolay (18 kil. south-west), in a white wine country, at the bottom of a narrow valley, has a good spire church, and the tower of its old château. On the promenade is la Journée fountain; and at Bout-du-Monde (End of the World), at the source of the Cusanne (4 kil. off), is the fine fall of Menevault, 66 feet down into a rocky hollow below. On Chatillon hill a roman camp is seen. Population, 2,000.]

MERSAULT (4 miles) has some noted white wine vineyards, and a spire church.

CHAGNY (54 miles), on the Deheune, and the Canal du Centre, under which the railway is carried by a tunnel. Coaches to Digoi (see Route 51), Genelard, Blanzy, St. Berain, St. Leger, and St. Creuzot.

FONTAINES (1 miles); and 8 miles further is

Chalons-sur-Saone, or CHALON, as it used to be called,

Hotel-Des Trois Faisans.

Population, 16,000.

A sous-préfecture in department Saôneet-Loire, and an ancient place, in a good situation for trade, being on the Saône, where it is navigable to Lyons, and whence the Canal du Centre (cut in 1791) proceeds to join the Loire at Digoin. It is Cæsar's Cabillonum, a town of the Edui, which he made a Roman granary. Both Augus

Route 24]

CHALONS-RIVER SAONE-MACON

tus and Constantine visited it. Attila took it after a siege, 461; and the Saracens, in 732. It suffered in the wars between Louis XI. and his restless vassal, Charles the Bold, who held it as part of Burgundy, the vineyards of which begin about here. Charles IX. built the citadel here. 1563. In the wars of the League it was the Duke of Mayenne's head quarters. The Austrians took it, 1814. The soil is very fertile; the broad quay offers a rather good view; and they say the Dauphiné Alps, though 120 miles off, may be seen (?) A stone bridge of 5 arches, with its piers carried above the top, in the shape of pyramids, joins St. Laurent, on an island in the river, where there is an old hospital (1528) with public baths attached, and a promenade.

The head church, or cathedral (once the seat of a bishop), is of the thirteenth century, with two modern towers, and is about to be restored. There is another church (St. Pierre), a new Hôtel de Ville, bibliothèque of 10,000 vols., palais de justice (law court), salle de spectacle, a pretty cemetery, a fountain, with a figure of Neptune, in the Place de la Beaune (which has an old gate near it), a college, and a granite obelisk, in Grand Rue, on the canal. At 2 kil to the east is the church of St. Marcel's abbey,where Abélard died.

Manufactures of silk hose, hats, leather, oil from cole-seed (for which there are crushing mills), bricks, tiles, beet-root, sugar, white beer, barges, and écailles d'ablettes, for mock pearls. Trade in these, Burgundy wine, grain, timber, &c., which find their way there as an entrepôt for the north and east of France.

Conveyances by rail to Paris, Dijon, &c.; by coach to Lons-le-Saulnier (see Route 31), Charolles, Marcigny, Roanne, Vichy, Moulins, Nevers (see Routes 33 and 51); and to Lyons (viâ Macon), near the course of the Saône, when the river is not navigable, in 16 hours (about 160 kil). The banks of the Saône are flat at first but cultivated with fruit trees and vineyards. Barges traverse the stream all day long. The railway takes the direction of the road.

From Chalons, down the Saône,* you pass St.

· See Kauffman's Bords de le Saone, for fuller parti

culars.

67

Remi, St Loup, and its old castle; Marny and its paper mills; Ormes, which had a bridge in Roman times; Senecey (18 kil. by road, in the interior), with its iron works, and ruins of Château Ruffey.

TOURNUS (10 kil.), an ancient town of 5,400 population, on the west, at the new suspension bridge on five piers, having an Hôtel de Ville, with a black granite pillar in front, and a hospital of the thirteenth century, an old half Norman church near St. Philibert's Abbey, founded 875, &c., and a slab (over the house where he was born, 1725,) to J. B. Greuze the painter.

Manufactures of pottery, leather, beer, sugar, &c. Hotels-De l'Europe, du Sauvage.

UCHIZY, on the west, is said to be peopled by descendants of Saracen settlers.

ST. ALBIN (16 kil.), on the west, near Fleurville bridge, and nearly opposite Pont de Vaux, which is a pretty village in La Bresse, or department Ain, noted for its capons.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

MACON. Hotels-Du Sauvage, de l' Europe, des Champs Elysées. Population 12,000. This chief town of department Saône-et-Loire, on a low hill, in a fertlle spot, was once the roman Matisco Eduorum, seat of a diocess, and of a county called the Mâconnais, which was sold by the Burgundian dukes to France, 1241. It was ravaged by the Huns and other invaders, and suffered in the religious wars of 1562 from both parties. The Austrians took it 1814 after a little fighting; Napoleon was received 15th April, 1815. Like all old towns, most of the streets are narrow and dirty; but it has pretty walks and goɔd prospects in the neighbourhood. From the 12arch bridge leading over to St. Laurent, and lately altered and improved, you may even see Mont Blane; the bridge itself replaces a Pont Jud, built, they say, by the Jews whom Philippe le Bel expelled.

St. Vincent's new church, in Place d' Armes on the hill, of brick and stone, was built 1810-16, and stands opposite Soufflot's hospital, built 1758

« AnteriorContinuar »