CHERBOURG 



157 



Cherbourg, a fortified seaport town and 

 Arsenal of France, in tin- di-pHrtinent of Manche, 

 at the head of a deep bay on the northern ex- 

 t trinity of tin- peninsula of Cotentin, 70 miles 8. 

 <>t the Isle of Wight, and 230 \VN \V. .if Paris. Be- 

 mm by Vauban in HW7, the harbour-work* and forti- 

 fications were pushed on by the great Napoleon, 

 ami W.-M- supposed to have been completed in 

 iv.s by Napoleon III. at a total outlay of 200 

 million francn ; but less than thirty years after, the 

 I'lrncli pivcnmnMit resolved to spend 49 millions 

 more on the construction of fresh works between 

 1883 and 1894. The stupendous <////// or break- 

 water, inclosing a space of nearly 2000 acres, is 

 descrilM'd in the article BREAKWATER. In connec- 

 tion with its fortifications, this breakwater assumes 

 an importance that attaches to no other work of 

 the kind in existence. At the apex of the angle 

 formed by the meeting of the two branches of the 

 digue, there is a centre fort or battery, measuring 

 509 feet on the inner line of the parapet, which 

 forms a flat semi-ellipse. The circular forts at the 

 extremities of the breakwater are remarkably well 

 placed for purposes of defence. Behind the centre 

 battery there is an elliptical tower, measuring 

 225 feet on the major, and 123 feet on the minor 

 axis. The entrances to the harbour are round 

 the ends of the digue ; and the passages are further 

 defended by the fortifications of the lie Pelee, and 

 by the batteries of La Roche Chavaignac and Fort 

 Querqueville. A series of coast redoubts, and the 

 large fortifications of Les Flamands, du Hornet, 

 Digosville, and Nacqueville, are situated behind 

 this outer zone of defence. ' The arsenal,' says 

 Dr Russell, ' is inclosed by a continuous line of 

 bastion and curtain of a very elevated profile, 

 defended by outworks, wet and dry ditches, and 

 by profuse batteries of the heaviest guns, either 

 in casement or en barbette. Wherever you look, 

 you fancy that on the spot you occupy are speci- 

 ally pointed dozens of the dull black eyes from 

 their rigid lids of stone.' The town itself is 

 commanded by La Roule on the heights behind. 

 The commercial harbour of Cherbourg consists of 

 an outer harbour, 786 feet in length by 654 

 feet wide, and of an inner basin, 1338 feet long 

 by 416 feet wide. The great inner naval float- 

 ing-harliour was inaugurated by the Emperor 

 Napoleon in 1858, in presence of Queen Victoria. 

 Entirely cut out of the solid rock, it is 20 acres in 

 area, and Ls surrounded by building-slips and capa- 

 cious graving-docks. It is calculated that the 

 roads or Cherbourg cannot, on account of the small 

 depth of the greater portion, shelter more than 25 

 or 30 sail of the line, and about as many frigates, 

 at one time. The commercial port displays little 

 activity, the principal exports being eggs, butter, 

 and cattle. The town itself is insignificant, the 

 streets being narrow and dirty ; the only build- 

 in-s of note are Trinity Church, founded by the 

 English alxmt 1450, the hOtel-de-ville, and the 

 theatre. There are some manufactures of hosiery, 

 chemicals, lace, and leather, sugar and salt re- 

 fineries, sawing and flour mills ; but the industrial 

 energies of the great bulk of the population are 

 absorbed in the arsenal and dockyards. Cherbourg 

 is a very ancient place ; originally Ccesaris Burgum, 

 in the llth century it was known under the name 

 of Carusbur. In 1758 Cherbourg was taken by 

 the English, who destroyed the naval and military 

 works, and levied a contribution on the town. 

 Pop. (1872)34,785; (1886)37,013; or 51,774 with 

 the three suburbs of Tourlaville, Octeville, and 

 Equeurdreville. Pop. in 1891, 38,554. 



Cherbllliez, the name of an influential family 

 at Geneva, which has produced many eminent 

 scholars and men of letters. Its founder was 

 Abraham Cherbuliez, a prosperous bookseller, who 



left three BOM (1) ANDRE (1795-1874), profemor 

 first of Latin, next of Ancient Literature at the 

 Geneva Academy, author of DC Libra Job ( 1829 ), and 



an Knnni sur In 'Siilire Latine ( 1829). (2) ANTOIXB 

 KI.JSKE ( 1797-18(19), an eminent publicist ; profemor 

 of Law and 1'olitical Economy at Geneva ; after- 

 wards at Paris the redoubtable antagonist, in the 

 pages of the journals, of Prondhon and the social- 

 ists ; died professor at Zurich ; author of /> la 

 Democratic en Suisse (1843), fitudes sur leu Causes 

 de la Misere (1853), and Precis de la Science 

 ficonomique (1862). (3) JOEL (1806-70), who suc- 

 ceeded to his father's business, and became well 

 known as editor of the Revue Critique ( 1833 et seq. ), 

 and an occasional contributor to the Revue de* Deux 

 Mondes. His book, Le Lendemain du dernier Jour 

 <Fun Condamne ( 1829), was a clever burlesque and 

 more upon Victor Hugo's well-known tour-de-force 

 on the question of capital punishment, while his 

 Geneve, ses Institutions, ses Mceurs, dec. (1867), 

 was a solid contribution to the history of the city. 

 Of the sisters, two made some reputation : the 

 eldest, Madame ToURTE-CHERBULIEZ (1793-1863), 

 wrote tales and novels, among them Annette 

 Gervais, and Le Journal cTAmelie ; and the young- 

 est, ADRIENNE, born in 1804, translated into 

 French the tales of Zschokke and H. von Kleist. 

 .See Rambert's ficrivains nationaux Suisses (vol. L 

 Geneva, 1874). 



VICTOR CHERBULIEZ, son of Andre, was born at 

 'Geneva in 1829, and studied there, at Paris, Bonn, 

 and Berlin, first mathematics, then philology and 

 philosophy ; after which he lived in Geneva as a 

 teacher, until his call to Paris in 1864 to join the 

 Revue des Deux Mondes. Since 1882 an Academi- 

 cian, he died 1st July 1899, near Melun. Cher- 

 buliez began his literary career with books which 

 were compounds between fiction and criticism. 

 In the first of these, A propos d"un Cheval, Causeries 

 Athiniennes (I860; 2a ed. under the title, Un 

 Cheval de Phidias, 1864), beauty in art, and especi- 

 ally in the sculptures of Phidias, is discussed in a 

 series of conversations by the attendants of a 

 French marquise who is visiting Athens ; Le Prince 

 Vitale (1864) treats in a similar way the subject 

 of Tasso's madness; Le Grand (Euvre (1867) con- 

 tains, with many incongruous enough discussions 

 of social and political questions, an account of 

 the unfortunate attempt of an English baronet to 

 grow a wife for himself. From these the author 

 turned to work which really proved his powers. 

 In 1863 he published Le Comte Kostia, a strong 

 and striking novel, which at once found its author 

 an audience. It was followed by a series of novels 

 which, always clever and original, if sometimes 

 mannered and over-inventive, have lifted Cher- 

 buliez into the front rank of contemporary French 

 writers of fiction. His style is brilliant and epi- 

 grammatic, his dialogue natural and lively ; while 

 he is readable from beginning to end, and his 

 situations are not only full of interest for the 

 moment, but are remembered long. Many of his 

 earlier stories take the form of a narrative by the 

 chief character, but those difficulties in developing 

 a plot in such a method which have been too great 

 for many novelists, M. Cherbuliez has surmounted 

 with consummate art. His best novels, besides 

 those named already, are : Le Roman d'une honnfte 

 Femme( 1866), L'Aventure de Ladislas Bolski ( 1869), 

 La Jlerniir/u' de Joseph Noirel (1872), Meta 

 Holdcnis (1873), Miss Rowl (1875), Le Fiance de 

 Mile, de Saint-Naur (1876), Samuel Brohl et C* 

 (1877), L'ldee de Jean Teterol (1878), La Ferine 

 du Choquard (1883), and La Vocation du Comte 

 Ghislain (1888). He published, besides several 

 volumes of political studies on Germany and Spain, 

 as well as Hmnmcs ft L'hoscs du Tempts jn-eserU 

 ( 1883 ), a series of papers which appeared in the 



