TAR 



63 



TAR 



were destroyed in the reign of Louis XIV. At La Ro- 

 quette, near Castrcs, aiv t\vo remarkable natural curiosities : 

 Le Rocher tremblant, a mass of stone, comprehending 

 about 360 cubic feet, and resting on a very narrow base, so 

 as to rock or vibrate sensibly when pushed, like the Logan 

 or Logging Stone, in Cornwall ; and the grotto which bears 

 the name of St. Dominic, from having served as a retreat 

 to that celebrated ecclesiastic. 



In the arrondissement of Gaillac are Gaillac (population 

 in 1831, 5552 for the town, or 7725 for the whole com- 

 mune ; in 1836, 8199 for the commune'), on the Tarn ; 

 Lisle (pop. 1726 for the town, or 5065 for the whole com- 

 mune) and Rabastens (pop. 3417 for the town, or 69G6 for 

 the whole commune), on the same river; Penne, on the 

 Aveyron ; Cordes(pop. 2239 for the town, or 2602 for the 

 commune), on the Cerou ; Cestayrols, Cahuzac, Castelnau 

 de Montmiiail, and Puiceley, on or near the Verre ; Sal- 

 v:iigiiac, near the Tescou ; and Cadalen, between the Tarn 

 and the Adou. Gaillae is on the right or north bank of the 

 Tarn : it is an old town without any striking public build- 

 ing : then 1 are an hospital and a small theatre. East of 

 the town is a suburb, well laid out and pleasantly situated. 

 There are brandy distilleiies and cooperages, and one or 

 t\vo tun-yards, dye-houses, and yards for building boats and 

 other river-craft. Trade is carried on in com, wine, and 



;il>le.s: there are seven yearly fairs. Lisle (otherwise 

 L'lle d'Alby), on the right bank of the Tarn, is a small 

 town, \\ith a place or square reru!arly laid out and adorned 

 with a fountain. Considerable trade is carried on in corn 

 and wine, and there are seven yearly lairs for cattle, linen 

 elutli. and wool. Rabastrns, in a fertile plain on the ritrht 

 nf the Tarn, is an ill laid out and ill-built town. 

 There is a pleasant suburb, and adjacent to it an agree- 

 able promenade. Some blankets are manufactured, and 

 some trade carried on in corn, wine, and fruit : there are 



I'arly fairs. Rabastens has the ruins of an antient 



. which was taken by Simon de Montfort in the reli- 

 gious wars of the thirteenth century, and by the English 

 in the wars of the fourteenth ccntuiy. Cordes is on an 



'ed site on the left bank of the Cerou : it has a hand- 

 some place or square, and the ruins of an antient castle : 

 linen and leather are manufactured ; there is a consider- 

 able weekly market for corn and fruit, and there are six 

 yearly fairs. Castelnau de Montmirail was antiently a 

 of strength : it is in a district fertile in corn and 

 fruit. Coarse marble is quarried in the neighbourhood. 

 Puiceley is on a height on the right bank of the Verre, not 

 far from C'astelnau de Montmiiail : the chief business of 

 the town is the manufacture of casks, joiners' and other 

 wood woik, and cheeses of great delicacy : there are lour 

 yearly fairs. Abundance of wood is obtained in the ad- 

 jacent forest Hi (i.i'sine. Salvaignac, or Salvagnac, is 



antly situated on an eminence not far from the left 



of the Tescou : it has some iron-forges, and consider- 

 able trade is carried on in cattle : there are six yearly fairs. 

 Some trade in < -attic is carried on at Cadalen. 



In the arrondissement of Lavaurare Lavaur or Laveur, 

 near the A;, r out (population in 1*G1. 4422 for the town, or 

 717J for the whole commune: in 1S3G. 7205 for the com- 

 mune). Giroussens and St. Sulpice, on or near the same 

 river; Puy-Laurens I population 1793 for the town, or (ilCO 

 for the whole commune), near the head of the Giron, an 

 unimportant feeder of the Garonne : and Graulhet (popu- 

 lation 2458 for the town, or 5097 for the whole commune 1 

 and Hi iatexte, on or near the Adou. Lavaur is on the left 

 bank of the Agout, which is here crossed by a modern 

 bridsre of hold ronsd-m-tiun. The town was defended by 

 - and protected by a castle in the eleventh century. 

 In the religious war* which signalised the early part of the 

 thirteenth century, it was one of the strongholds of the 

 Albigente*. from whom it was taken, A.I>. 1211. by Simon 

 de Montfort, who committed the n ,1 cruelties. 



The place U divided into the old town nnd the new town, 

 but ii altogether ill built. The chief branch of indn-lrv is 

 silk-throwing. 'Hie raw silks of Haut or Upper Lunguvdoo 



.iniL'lil here : and when thrown are sent to Nfmes and 

 MHO silk-stuff* for the upholsterers, and silk- 

 nacle ; and there are dye-houses and tan- 

 yards : there are three yearly fairs. "Lavaur ha- a hiyh 



'>!, a small public; library, an agricultural socie! 

 a subordinate c-omt of justice. Giioussens was form 



h. and the object of contest in the Knglish 

 wan of I) ath century. It stands on the right 



bank of the Agout : the townsmen manufacture brown 

 pottery, but their ware is less in request than formerly. 

 There is one yearly cattle-fair. Puy-Laurens is on a small 

 eminence commanding the surrounding fertile plain. It 

 was one of the strongholds of the Huguenots in the reli- 

 gious wars of the sixteenth century : but the fortifications 

 were rased in the reign of Louis XIII. The town appears 

 to have been after this still occupied by the Protestants, who 

 had here an Academy of Sciences, which was suppressed 

 after the revocation of the Edict, of Nantes. Silk-throwing 

 is carried on, and there is considerable trade with Spain in 

 horses and mules : there are five well-attended yearly 

 fail's. Graulhet, on the left bank of the Adou, has a con- 

 siderable manufacture of hats and woollen stuffs, and a 

 number of tan-yards. Considerable trade in horses is car- 

 ried on, and there are five cattle-fairs. The district round 

 the town is fertile : millstones are dug. 



The population, when not otherwise described, is from 

 the census of 1831. 



That part of France which now constitutes this depart- 

 ment was chiefly comprehended, in the earliest historical 

 period, in the territory of the Kuteni. The southern por- 

 tions were comprehended in the territory of the Umbranici, 

 and the south-western in that of the Tolosates. That part 

 of the territory of the Ruteni which was comprehended in 

 the department is considered by D'Anville to have been 

 occupied by the Ruteni Provinciales, distinguished by 

 ' by that epithet from the other Ruteni, as being 

 within the limits of the Roman province at the time of his 

 command in Gaul. The Umbranici and Tolosates were 

 also within the province. The Ruteni were defeated by 

 Fabius Maximus, B.C. 121, and it was probably at this time 

 that part of them (the Ruteni Provinciales) became sub- 

 ject to Rome. The independent Ruteni took an active 

 part in the general revolt of the Gauls under Vercinge- 

 torix, near the close of Caesar's command, and were sent 

 by Vercingetorix to ravage the lands of the Volcae Areco- 

 mici, who were Roman provincials. They were subdued 

 by Ceesar. All these nations appear to have belonged to 

 the great Celtic stock. Under the Romans the Ruteni 

 including the Ruteni Provinciales) appear to have been 

 comprehended in the province of Aquitauia Prinia ; the 

 Umbranici and Tolosates, in Narbonensis Prinia. The 

 town of the Albienses (Civitus Albie/isium) of the'Notitiu' 

 was probably Alby : the Albigi of the anonymous Geo- 

 grapher of Ravenna was probably the same place. No other 

 Roman town can be identified with any locality within the 

 department. The river Tarn is noticed by Ausonius (Mo- 

 xeltee Desrriptiu, 465) and Sidonius Apollinaris (Carmen, 

 xxiv. 45) under the name of Tarnis : the former bestows 

 on it the epithet 'aurifer,' 'the gold-bearing;' the second 

 calls it 'citus,' the 'swift.' 



In the middle ages, and down to the period of the Revo- 

 lution, the larger portion of this department was known as 

 the territory of L'Albigeois ; the arrondissement of Lavaur, 

 and the adjacent parts, formed the district of Le Has 

 (Lower) Lauraguais : both these were comprehended in Le 

 Haut (Upper) Languedoc. Alby was the chief town of 

 L'Albigeois ; Lavaur of Bas Lauraguais. 



Upon the downfal of the Roman Empire this part of 

 France passed into the hands of the Visigoths, and subse- 

 quently of the Franks under Clovis. The district of L'Albi- 

 geois was part of the great duchy of Guienne in the time 

 of the later kinsrs of the Merovingian dynasty. It was sub- 

 sequently held in succession by the counts of Toulouse, 

 the \iscouuts of Be/iers, and the counts of Carcassonne: 

 and was, in the early part of the thirteenth century, the 

 scene of the fearful cruelties perpetrated in the crusade 

 airainst the Albigeois or Albigrnses, a sect deriving their 

 name from the district, and persecuted by the. Romish 

 church as heretical. [AuuflcKNUS.] In the sequel of this 

 de the district of L'Albigeois was annexed to the 

 crown. The district of Lauraguais was successively held 

 by the counts of Carcassonne and Barcelona; one of these 

 hitter, ha\ing become king of Aragon, ceded Le Lau- 

 raguais to the Viscount of Be/iers, who again ceded it to 

 St. l.ouis, king of France. It wa.- alienated by Louis XL, 

 who gave it to the counts of Auvergne, but was reunited 

 to the crown by Henri IV. 



TARN ET GARONNE, a department in the south of 

 France, situated between 43 47' and 44 23' N. lat., and 

 0" 40' and 2 0' E. long. It is bounded on the north by 

 the department of Lot, on the north-east by tlia.t of Avey- 



