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factures of cotton cloth, woollen serges, muslins, embroidery, &c., are carried on here.

It was occupied by the Germans 1870-1, and was the head-quarters of their army of occupation, after the removal from Compiègne.

Branch Rails are open (1) to Ludres (near a Roman camp), Port St. Vincent, Ceintrey, and Vézelise, 22 miles long; and (2) to Eulmont, Brin, Burthécourt, (branch to Vic Saltworks) and Château-Salins (as below.

[Château-Saiins, a sous-préfecture of 26,000 souls, on the Seille, so called after a castle, built 1342, by Isabella of Austria, near the salines or salt-works. Great quantities of salt are got at Vic, Moyen-Vic, and Dieuze.

Girardet, the painter, Chevalier Bouffleurs, and General Haxo, were born here. The treaty of Lunéville, between France and Austria, was signed in Rue d'Allemagne, 1801. Trade in pottery, gloves, embroidery, wine, beer, &c.

Hotels.-Du Sauvage; De la Tète d'Or (Golden Head); Du Faisan (Pheasant).

Coach to Rambervillier, up the Mortagne (already described). Rail to St. Dié, &c., 38 miles.

[It passes up the Meurthe, to Baccaret (21 miles), under a rocky height, having a crystal factory; Raon l'Etape (5 miles), in the Vosges mountains, with a castle and monastery, and a good timber trade; to St. Dié (10) miles), as in Route 60.]

Emberménil (10 miles), was the cure of Abbé

The line to Epinal turns off at Varangeville (see Gregoire, who figured in the States General of 1789. Route 59).

From Nancy, on the rail to Strasbourg, you pass up the Meurthe, to

Varangeville - St. Nicholas-du-Port (7} miles), two places on opposite sides of the riverthe latter having a fine Gothic church, built 14941544, with light pillars 92 feet high, and towers to match. Many pilgrims visit it on the Monday of Pentecost. A. Joly, a painter of the last century, was born here. Population of both, 4,120.

Rosières-aux-Salines (34 miles), before which you leave on the left, Dombasle (2 kil.), where a branch of the Moselle falls into that stream, passing

Avricourt (5 miles), 255 miles from Paris, on the new German frontier. This, with Raon l' Etape, on the Donon hills, was given back to France, by the late convention of 12th October, 1871. For the rest of the line to Strasbourg, Colmar, and Mühlhausen, see BRADSHAW's Hand-Book to the Rhine.

Hereabouts, short rails turn off to Dieuze (north) and Cirey (south). The rail to Cirey passes Foulcrey (2 miles), Blamont (3 miles), to Cirey (5 miles; passing over the new German boundary.

ROUTE 55.

a ruined château on the top of the hill. Population, Epernay to Reims, Mézières, and Belgium.

2,360. Here are old salt-works.

Blainville-la-Grande (3 miles), on the Moselle; sometimes called Blainville-sur-Eau, from a rapid which turns a few mills. Here the branch rail to Epinal turns off (see Route 59).

Lunéville (54 miles), a sous-préfecture in department Meurthe, with 15,530 inhabitants, in a fertile spot on the Meurthe, where the Vezouze joins, was at first a hunting-seat, and was taken by Marshal Longueville, 1638, and the fortifications pulled down. At the old palace of the Dukes of Lorraine, the Emperor Francis I. was born; it is now a cavalry depôt. There are also a large ridinghouse and stores, a champ de Mars, a fountain in Place Neuve, a church, built 1750, with two towers, in which is the tomb of Voltaire's friend, Madame Châtelet, and a new church, opened 1854.

Distance by rail, 73 miles. Four trains daily; mail, 4 hours. This is one of the Ardennes Comvany's lines.

Epernay Station, on Paris and Strasbourg line, as in Route 54. Leaving this, the line crosses the Marne, on a four-arched bridge, and is still further continued on two other bridges or archways (to save it from the inundations of the river), and on two skew bridges over the canal, to

Ai, or Ay (2 miles), where the best Mousseux wines are grown. Population, 3,300. Marcuil is the seat of the Marquis de Montebello. At

Avenay (23 miles), is the church of an ancient abbey, founded in the 7th century. The line, after winding among forests and hills, passes a long tunnel of nearly 2 miles, to

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American Consul here.

OBJECTS OF NOTICE.-Cathedral-Old Walls -Church of St. Remé-Hotel de Ville-Port de Mars-Maison Rouge.

Reims, though a sous-préfecture only (in department Marne), has a population of 72,000, is the seat of an archbishop, and one of the oldest cities in France, having been the chief town of Champagne.

It stands on the Vesle, at the bottom of gently sloping chalk-hills, covered with vineyards, though the neighbourhood is dull. It was the capital of the Remi, in Belgic Gaul, and called Durocortorum by the Romans, whose consul here, Jovinus, became a Christian, 366. Clovis and his Franks were baptised here, 496. It was taken by Charles Martel, 719, and by Hugh Capet's rival, Charles of Lorraine, 900; besieged by Edward III. of England, 1359, and captured, 1421, by the English, who were, at length, driven out by the Maid of Orléans; and Charles VII. crowned here, as were all the French sovereigns from Philippe Auguste down to Charles X. (except Henry IV. and Louis XVIII.) The ampulla, or vessel of consecrated oil, used at the coronations, was destroyed at the great Revolution.

It was taken by the Allies, 1814. In 1870, the King of Prussia entered the city with his forces, 5th September, on his march to Paris; and, after the conclusion of peace, 1871, it became for a time the head-quarters of the German army of occupation.

Parts of the Gothic walls, with their turrets, still remain; the streets are wide, and most of the houses one storey high, but it has a dull look, with grass growing in the streets. Of fourteen open places, the largest is Place Royale, built 1756,

which has Cartellier's bronze copy of Pigalle's Louis XV. (who greatly improved this old city), and the ancient Hôtel des Fermes. Place Godînot takes its name from a canon of the last century, who built a château d'eau for supplying water, now furnished by a new reservoir (by Cordier, 1843), in Place de la Tour-du-Puits. An old fountain, by Coustou, the sculptor, stands in Place St. Nicaise, where a very old church stood, till destroyed at the Revolution. One gate, called the Porte de Vesle, an iron arch, leads out to the Grand Cours, a well-planted walk by the river, as far as Porte de Laon. Close to the latter (built in the Wall), is the Porte de Mars, a genuine Roman relic. It was a triumphal arch, built by Agrippa, in honour of Cæsar Augustus, with three openings in it, and eight Corinthian columns, all much worn. An amphitheatre may be traced at the Mont de Arènes, near it. But its finest ornament is the noble Gothic

Cathedral, covered with a multitude of figures and ornaments, and built, for the most part, 1212-42, by Robert de Coucy, on the site of one founded as early as 360-400. The transept (164 feet long) was rebuilt after a fire, in 1491. Length, 467 feet; breadth, 98 feet; height, 118 feet. The richly beautiful front has a triple portal (the middle one being 39 feet wide), a large stained rose window, bas-reliefs of the Passion, the Judgment, Crowning of the Virgin, David and Goliath, Baptism of Clovis, and from 520 to 550 statues of various sizes, in rows, besides a row of 35 niched prelates near the top; above which rise the two towers, made of open pillars and windows, and ending in a heap of little turrets, instead of the spires which they were designed to carry. One tower (the south), a little shorter than the others, was not finished till 1480, and has the bells of a clock as old as 1570, with moving figures, &c. Going in, you see about 90 niched statues inside the doors; the windows are richly stained with figures of apostles, kings, &c. In the nave (which had a painted ceiling of lilies, on a blue ground, when Charles X. was crowned,) is the very curious marble tomb of Jovinus, the Roman consul, carved over with a lion hunt, and brought from St. Nicaise's church, "An. VIII. de la Republique," or 1800. Nine chapels surround the choir, which has a rich altar, the canopy of St. Nicaise's church, a large organ, 64 feet high, and

Poussin's painting of the Israelites gathering | lodged at the cost of the city authorities." At Manna, with others by Titian and Tintoretto.

The church of St. Remi, or Remigius, was built 1041-60, as part of Archbishop Turpin's Benedictine abbey, being older than the cathedral, and the place where the early kings were consecrated. It is a mixture of Norman and pointed Gothic in the style, and 361 feet long, with a plain front, having five portals and a rose window, between two slender towers with slated spires. It contains a modern copy of the tomb of St. Remi, ornamented by marble life-size statues of the twelve premier peers of France (the Count of Champagne and the archbishop are two), saved from an older tomb. The pavement is done with mosaic figures from the Bible; and ten pieces of tapestry (the life of St. Remi) line the walls. Several kings and bishops were buried in this church, which has lately been restored. Here the procession of the herring used to take place on Holy Wednesday. Each canon trailed a herring after him, and it was his business to tread on the one belonging to the man before him, while he did his best to prevent his own being trodden on by the next following.

The Gothic churches of St. Andrew and St. Thomas are both modern.

The Hôtel de Ville (which a new street joins to Place Impériale), begun 1627, and enlarged 1825, consists of a centre and wings (one new), 200 feet long, ornamented with 68 pilasters, and bas-reliefs (at the middle) of Louis XIII. Here are placed the cartulaire, or collection of archives; the bibliothèque or library of 32,000 volumes, besides 1,500 MSS. and autographs; and a museum of pictures. At the archbishop's palace is a collection of portraits of kings and prelates. A new Doric Palais de Justice was built, 1845, on the site of the Hôtel Dieu; a new covered market, 1840; and an abattoir, or slaughter-house, 1838. Reims has a college, priests' seminary, theatre, public baths, botanic garden, chamber of commerce, &c.

A few old buildings are left, as the Hôtel des Comtes de Champagne, in Rue du Tambour, Hôtel de Joyeuse, near the Hôtel de Ville, Hôtel de Chevreuse, in Rue des Gueux, and the Maison Rouge Inn (near the cathedral), on which you read, "In the year 1429, at the coronation of Charles VII., in this inn, then called the Zebra, the father and mother of Jeanne d'Arc were

the English college for priests here, the Rheims version of the New Testament was published, 1582. In the old house of Long Vétre, in Rue de Cères, Colbert, the statesman, was born 1619, the son of a wine merchant. When he wanted, afterwards, to make one of his sons Grand Bailly of the Order of Malta, for which four descents of nobility were required, he proceeded in this way. He fabricated an epitaph for a pretended ancestor, Richard Colbertby, a Scotchman. To get this placed in the Cordeliers' church, where several of his family lay buried, he bribed the guardian with the promise of a bishopric (which he never got), and here the epitaph was to be seen till the Revolution. In Rue du Marc, Pluche, who wrote the Spectacle de la Nature, was born. Gobelins, who gives name to the tapestry, and Marshal Drouet d'Erlon (to whom there is a statue), were also natives. Trade in Champagne wines, corn, &c., and woollens, which are spun here. It is the "original seat" of pain d'épice, or gingerbread.

The trade in Champagne at Reims reaches 30 million francs yearly; and 600,000 bottles are usually stored away in the chalk cellars of MM. Moet, Cliquot, and other proprietors. It sells from 2 to 4 francs a bottle on the spot, according to quality; but the inferior sorts drunk here is as low as 1d. a bottle; the local consumption being reckoned at 84 bottles a head. Of the four million bottles of sparkling Champagne exported from the whole department, upwards of half-a-million finds its way to England, and three-quarters-of-amillion of the rest to France; brandy and sugarcandy being added to suit the English and Russian markets. Flowers are greatly cultivated by amateurs and others, among whom may be mentioned M. Souillé, for roses M. Joltras, for dahlias; M. Rénart, for tulips.

Sillery is on the road to Chalons. The rail hence to Laon, &c. (see Route 6), was, as well as that which we follow, constructed by the Ardennes Company.

Vitry-les-Reims (54 miles) is near Isle, on the

Snippe.

Bazancourt (5 miles).
La Châtelet (7 miles).

Cross the Aisne, and the Canal des Ardennes, to
Rethel (7 miles), a sous-préfecture of 7,900

souls, in department Ardennes, on a hill, by the Aisne, was an old Roman castrum rectectum, and the head of a duchy, once held by the Duc de Meilleraye, who married Cardinal Mazarin's niece. It was besieged, 1660, by the Spaniards, who defeated Turenne close by, then fighting for the Fronde. Condé took it four years after, but gave it up to Turenne, who was now on the court side, after changing his religion. An old tower remains. Linens and nails are made.

Hotels.-Du Commerce; De France; Du Lion d'Or (Golden Lion).

Coaches to Château-Porcien, Attigny, Signy l'Abbaye, Novion, &c.

[At 8 kil. west-north-west, is CHÂTEAU-PORCIEN, down the Aisne, under an old castle on a rock, which belonged to the Counts of Champagne.] Amagne (5 miles), the station for Attigny and Vouziers.

[ATTIGNY (7 miles), on the Aisne, has traces of a palace of the early kings from Clovis, who built it 647. A council was held here 765; and here Witikind, the Saxon, was baptised, 786. Charles the Simple built St. Walburg's church here. It was afterwards a countryseat of the Reims archbishops, but suffered so much from the English and the Frondeurs, &c., that it is now a small village of only 1,600 souls.

VOUZIERS (10 miles), further up the Aisne, a a small but thriving sous-préfecture of 2,800 population, near which the Prince de Ligne was killed, 1792. It was about here that, in the Revolutionary war, a sudden panic took possession of the French under Doumouriez, when, to the number of 10,000, they fled 40 leagues before 1,200 Prussian hussars, and for a moment threw all France into alarm. BUZANCY (22 kil. east-north-east of this) has near it the Château de la Cour, which belonged to the Reims prelates, and a building like a mosque, called Mahomet, and built, they say, by a crusader. At 21 kil. further is Stenay (see Route 5).]

Launois (15 miles), on the Vence. [At 10 kil. west-north-west is SIGNY L'ABBAYE, so called from remains of a Benedictine Abbey, founded 1134, by St. Bernard, and endowed by a seigneur of Châtillon, to whom the saint gave

a written contract, kindly promising him as many acres in heaven as he had made a donation of on earth. The original document was to be seen here till the last century.] Pass Poix-Terron (5 miles), &c., and 10 miles further is

MEZIERES (162 miles from Paris). HOTELS.-Du Palais Royal; Des Postes. Population, 5,610.

This small, dull, capital of department Ardennes, is a military post of the second class, opposite Charleville, close to the Belgian frontier, on a bend of the Meuse, in a pleasant hilly spot, surrounded by Vauban's lines and a citadel. It is as old as 847, when a castle was built here, which the Counts of Rethel took possession of. Among the few buildings worth notice are, the old Gothic church, built 1412-1506, which has a good portal, a high vault, painted glass, and an inscription, "feliciter," put up when Charles IX. married his wife here, 1570. At the Hôtel de Ville, built 1732, is the flag of the Chevalier Bayard, "sans peur et sans reproche," who with 2,000 men defended the town against a force of 40,000 Austrians, in 1521, when bombshells were used for the first time; this flag is carried in procession every 27th September. It also stood a seven weeks' siege in 1815, after Waterloo. The Hôtel Dieu was built 1746. About 4,000 volumes are in the public library.

Leather, serge, &c., are made. Rail to Hirson (35 miles), Sedan, Givet, Verdun, Metz, &c. From Sedan (see Route 58), it is about 7 miles to Bouillon, in Belgium.

From Mézières, on the rail to Namur, you pass

Charleville, only of a mile, by a viaduct, near the suspension bridge, on the Meuse. It was built by, and called after, Charles, Duke of Nevers and Mantua, 1606, and has a pretty walk at Petit Bois, a college or school, hospital, theatre, and bibliothèque of 24,000 volumes, with a museum of natural history. A castle stood on Mont Olympe between 1639 and 1689. Population, 9,900, who make nails, fire-arms, iron goods, and a trade in slate, coal, marble, grain, &c.

Rail, down the Meuse, to Charleroi and Brussels. The rail between Charleville and Sedan was opened in December, 1838. Two bridges cross the Meuse,

Br

From Sedan it is continued to Thionville (Route 58), and from Charleville to Givet; thus completing the north-east frontier line.

Pass Nouzon (4 miles), &c., to Deville (8 miles), to the west of which is

ROCROY, Or Rocroi, a fortress of the fourth class, with a frontier custom-house or douane, on a plain, 1,190 feet above the sea, where the great Condé, when Duke of Enghien, and only twenty-two years old, gained his famous victory over the Spaniards, &c., 19th May, 1643. The town stands among the forests of Ardennes, and was founded by Francis I. Population, 3,600. Coach to Couvin. It is about 85 kil. to Landrecies, described in Route 6.

Fumay (12 miles), on the Meuse, is noted for its ardoisères, or state works, in the mountains here, through which the river has made a deep cutting. An old castle stands upon it. Merinoes, flannels, steam engines, glass, &c., are made. Population, 3,400. It was the centre of a little neutral spot, when joined to France, 1770.

Givet (15 miles), a fortified town on the Meuse, close to the Belgian frontier, in a hilly and rather picturesque spot, is composed of Petit Givet, at the end of the stone bridge, and Grand Givet, with Charlemont fort at the other end, the latter being on a high rock. It was used as a depôt for English prisoners in the war, when the Rev. R. Wolfe voluntarily laboured among twelve hundred of them, preaching the gospel, forming schools, &c., as related in his work, "English Prisoners in France." It has the churches of St. Hilaire and Nôtre Dame, a library of 5,000 volumes, and chamber of manufactures. Population, 6,400.

Pottery, pipes, and iron goods are made. In the neighbourhood is the old Château of Mont d'Hano (near Vireux Wallerand), and up the river, the high slate cliffs, called the Dames de la Main. Boats ascend it to Mézières.

Hotel.-Du Mont d'Or.

Coach to Vireux, on the Sambre and Meuse line. Further down the river are Dinant, and Namur (in BELGIUM), from which the rail can be taken to Waterloo and Brussels. A rail is making to unite Dinant and Namur. The dark slaty cliffs of the river are high and imposing. (See BRADSHAW's Hand-Book to Belgium and the Rhine.)

ROUTE 56:

Blesme to Chaumont. Distance by rail, 55 miles, or 90 kil. Four trains a day.

Blesme, as on the Strasbourg line (Route 54). Then over a wide plain to

St. Dizier (7 miles), a sous-préfecture, in Haute-Marne (population, 8,100) on the Marne, among woods. It was besieged by Charles V., in 1544, and mostly burnt by accident, 1775. It has part of an old Castle, near the Gothic Church, and a modern Hôtel de Ville.

Hotels.-Du Soleil d'Or (Golden Sun); L'Arbre d'Or (Golden Tree). Wood is cut and iron forged

here.

One of the forges, Marnaval, owes its origin, says tradition, to the following story. Henry IV. having visited St. Dizier, the échevin or sheriff, Beaudesson, came to pay his respects. He was so like the king, that the guard presented arms and sounded trumpets, to the astonishment of Henry, who, putting his head out of the window, asked if there were two kings there. Beaudesson entered, and the king, surprised at the likeness, inquired if his mother had ever been at Béarn (where Henry came from). "No, sire," answered the sheriff, "but my father has travelled a good deal." The king was so tickled with the répartée, that he told Beaudesson to ask whatever he liked. He asked to build a forge on the Marne; and this was the origin of Marnaval.

Branch Rail to Vassy (14 miles), viâ Humbécourt (5 miles), Eclaron (2 miles), Louvemont (3 miles), and Pont-Varin (1 mile), all unimportant.

[Vassy, or Wassy, a sous-préfecture, on the site, some say, of Vadieases, which was burnt by Caracalla in 211. Roman coins have been found. An inscription near the hospital marks where a massacre of the Protestants took place, 1562, by the Duc de Guise. Large forests and iron forges surround it. Population, 2,583.]

Eurville (6 miles), on the Marne, the nearest station for Vassy.

Chevillon (6 miles), further up the Marne.

Joinville (6 miles), an old place in a pleasant spot on the Marne, among vineyards and iron forges, under a hill, on which stood (till the Duke of Orléans pulled it down, 1790) the old Castle of

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