﻿MB 



LYON. 



LYTHAM. 



646 



dissatisfied with the government of their ecclesiastical rulers ; they 

 elected a municipal body, between whom and the archbishop dissen- 

 sions broke out, which led to the annexation of the city to the domi- 

 nion of the French crown, the judicial administration remaining 

 partly in the hands of the archbishop, partly in the municipality or 

 consulate, as the civic coitticil of Lyon was called. The citizens had 

 the right to elect their own magistrates, and to control the receipts 

 and outlay of the municipal officers ; they were also exempt from the 

 jurisdiction of any courts but those established in the city. Under 

 this government the town increased in population, wealth, and com- 

 merce till the 16th century, when it sufiered much at the hands of 

 the Huguenots, but recovered its prosperity m the 17th and 18th 

 centuries. In the year 1793, during the government of the Conven- 

 tion, the people of Lyon rose against the tyranny of the Revolutionary 

 Club which had been established in the city, and seizing the town-hall 

 put Challier, the president of the club, to death. To avenge this 

 affront the Convention sent an army of 60,000 men, with a hundred 

 pieces of cannon. The town was bombarded, and obliged, after a siege 

 of sixty-six days, to yield to famine'and force ; and during the cruelties 

 that followed in the next five months nearly 6000 victims perished, 

 including those who fell in the defence ; the principal buildings were 

 demolished ; and a new name, Commune Affranchie, was given in 

 mockery to the city. This dreadful blow, together with the long war 

 which followed the French revolution, caused the commerce and 

 manufactures of Lyon to languish ; but under the empire it rose again 

 to prosperity. The city capitulated to the Anstrians in 1814. On 

 the return of Napoleon 1. from Elba in 1815, hia cause wan espoused by 

 the Lyonnese. In 1831 and 1834 Lyon was the soene of great disturb- 

 ■ooes, which originated in the dispotes of the trades-unions with the 

 master-manufacturers respecting wages, but had also connection with 

 the republican party who hesdMl the insurrection, and were ready to 

 make it subserve their own ptirposes. In the last-mentioned year 

 the insurgents by barricading the suburbs contested the possession of 

 the town for t#o days with the military, but at the end of that time 

 they laid down their arms. 



The city of Lyon is very advantageously situated on the line of 

 railway from Paris to Marseille, and on two navigable rivers, the 

 Rhdne and the Saone, in the fork between which the greater part of 

 the town is built. This part of Lyon consiste mostly of narrow 

 orooked dirty streets, formed by solidly built houses of 7 or 8 stories 

 high. To aiSurd room for the extension of the town southward the 

 two rivers have been made to meet about a mile below their original 

 junction, thus forming the peninsula of Penache, on which the streets 

 are built with more regularity and elegance, and some beautiful pro- 

 menades are laid out. The old fortifications between the city and the 

 hill and suburb of Croix-Rousse prevented the extension of the town 

 northward, but by a decree of the French Republic, dated March 

 1848, these fortifications were ordered to be demolished, and a wider 

 enceinte to be constructed, so as to include this suburb. A coDsidei^ 

 able part of the town lies on the right bank of the SaOne, both shorea 

 of which are lined with quays. Here also is the steep hiU and suburb 

 of Fourvi^res on the south-west ; and the suburbs of Serin and Vaize 

 on the west. On the left bank of the Rhdne are the suburbs of 

 Brotteaux and Ouilloti^re ; its right bank is lined with quays through- 

 out the whole length of the city, some of them being planted wiA 

 trees and forming delightful promenades. 



The suburbs of Fourviirea and Croix-Rouaae are chiefly inhabited 

 by silk-weavera. The hill of Fourviirea is said to derive its name 

 from Fontm-Vehu, an ancient Roman structure which stood on its 

 summit, and on the site of which the church of Nutre-Dame is now 

 built. The remains of an aqueduct and amphitheatre have been 

 found on this hill. From the terrace dose by this church, or from a 

 tower erected near it, the view over the city of Lyon, its two noble 

 rivers, its squared, chief structures, quays, avenues, and bridges, the 

 bills and plains in the vicinity, of the snowy peak of Mont Blanc and 

 the Alps of Dauphin^ in the far distance, precents one of the moat 

 varied and most beautifnl panoramas in Europe. 



The Kbdne, which. runs along the eastern side of the town, flows 

 with a rapid current 666 feet wide, and is spanned by four bridges, 

 that unite the city to the populous suburbs of Guilloti6re and Brot- 

 teaux, which are protected f^om the inundations of the river by high 

 embankmenta The SaAne flows in a gentle current with a breadth 

 of 462 feet along the base of the hill Fourviirea, a projecting crag of 

 wtfich formeriy blocked up the passage along the right bank) but was 

 cut through by the Romans, and hence it got the name of Petra Exsoisa, 

 still remaining is the modem name Fierre-Scise. The Sa6ne is oroised 

 by nine brldgek 



Of the SO squares or open spaces in the city, the finest are — the 

 Place-Bellecour, which is planted with lime-trees and is one of the 

 largest squares in Europe; and the Placa-des-Terreaux, of which the 

 town-ball and the Palais-daa-Arta form two sides. la the latter a 



colossal equestrian statue of the Emperor Napoleon L was erected 

 in 1852. 



The public structures of Lyon are numerous, and, with some excep- 

 tions, more remarkable for solidity than elegance. Among the chief 

 religious edifices are — the splendid cathedral of St. -Jean, on the right 

 bank of the Saone, the churches of St.-Pierre, d'Ainai, de 1' Observance, 

 Notre-Dame-de-FourviJres before mentioned, St.-Nizier, St.-Bonaven- 

 ture, St.-Polycarpe, des-Chartreux, St.-Georges, St.-Ir^n6e, and St. -Just 

 These, together with the palace of the archbishop, form a series of 

 buildings interesting for their architectui-e, extent, decorations, and 

 antiquity. Among the civic structures aro the prefect's residence, 

 once a convent; the town-hall, the finest building of the kind in 

 France ; the courthouse, on the Quai-de-la-Saone ; the public library 

 the Palais-des-Ai-ts, in which are an exchange, galleries of paintings 

 and sculptures, cabinets of medals, collections of minerals, imd of 

 natui-al history, specimens of silk manufactures, &c. ; tho Loge-du- 

 Change, formerly an exchange, now a Calvinist church ; the college, 

 situated on the Quaidu-Rbdne ; the mint ; the general hospital, or 

 Hotel-Dieu; the Mai8on-de-la-Cbarit(5, or asylum for the poor; the 

 hospital de I'Antiquaille, built ou the site of the Roman palace in 

 which Claudius, CaliguU, and Germanicus were born; the Mont-de- 

 pidt<S; the prisons; the two theatres; and the numerous barracks. 



The fortifications of Lyon are formed by a series of detacheil forts, 

 seven of which are built on the left bank of the Rhflne, and the rest 

 ou the heights of Croix-Rousse, and the hills on the right bank of the 

 Sa6nc. The environs of Lyon are dotted with numerous country 

 seats, gardens, and vineyards. 



Lyon is an important manufacturing town. The staple articles of 

 industrial produce are silk-stuSs of all deSbriptions, which for solidity 

 of texture, richness and permanence of dye, and beauty of design are 

 not equalled in the world. In this manufacture about 100,000 of the 

 population are directly or indirectly concerned. Cashmere and silk 

 shawls, ribands, cotten-cloth, hosiery, bats, printed calico, jewellery, 

 liqueurs, chemical products, gold and silver lace, crapes, tulle, glue, 

 sheet lead, musical strings, ornamental paper, &c., are also manu- 

 &ctured. There ai-e besides, numerous printing-establuihments, dye- 

 houses, metal-foundries, glass-works, potteries, tan-yards, breweries, 

 boat-building yards. Sic. 



Lyon is also, from its advantageous position, a place of great 

 commerce. The products, imported iiito the town for its own con- 

 sumption, or for re-exportation, are wine, brandy, oil, hemp, flax, soap, 

 rice, chestnuts, ^alt, raw cotton, coffee, indigo, sulphur, lead, teazles, 

 madder and other dye-stuSs, kc. Timber, firewood, building -atone, 

 and Bsphalte are the chief articles brought duwu the liUone to this 

 oity, Down the SaOne are brought timber of all kinds, oak-staves, 

 fire-wood, charcoal, tanning-bark, iron and iron-ore, gypsum, hay, 

 straw, com, building-stone, bricks, tiles, &c. Steamers ply uu the 

 Sadne to Ch&lon-sur^aAne ; on the Kh6ue down to Avignon and Aries, 

 and up as far as Seyssel. The town has communication with the 

 Rhine by the Canal-du-Rh6ne-au-Rbiu ; and with Paris by the Safiue 

 and the canals that join it to the Seine. Railroads unite Lyon with 

 Paris and with the great manufacturing town of St.-Etienne, and the 

 extensive coal-fields of the department of Loire. A railway is in 

 course of construction southward to Avignon, whence it is completed 

 to Marseille. 



Lyon gives title to an archbishop, whose see includes the depart- 

 ments of Rh6ne and Loire. It is the seat of a High Court of Justice, 

 which baa jurisdiction over the departments of Ain, Loire, and 

 Rhone ; and of a University-Academy, the limits of which comprise 

 the departments just named and also Sa6ne-et-Loire. It is also the 

 head-quarters of the 8th Military Division, which includes the depart- 

 ments of Rhdne, Loire, Sadne-et-Loire, Ain, Isire, Uautes-Alpes, Dr6me, 

 and Ard^he. There are also in Lyon faculties of theology and the 

 sciences, a secondary school of medicine, and a college. The city has 

 also a tribunal of first instance, a tribunal and chamber of commerce, 

 a council of Prud' Hnmmes, an academy of sciences and ai'ts, a dio- 

 cesan seminary, a preparatory theological college, a school of the fine 

 arts, a mint, an establishment for deaf mvites, a school of arts nnd trades, 

 besides various other literary, scientific, aud benevolent institutions. 



{IHclionnaire de la France; Almanac pour I' An 1853; Official 

 Papert ; L'A rt de Verifier let Data, vol. iil) 



LYONNAIS, a former province of France, which now forms the 

 departments of Rh6ne and Loire. It was divided into Lyonnais 

 proper, of which Lyon was the capital ; Franc-Lyonnais, chief town 

 Keufville ; the Beaujolais, capital Yillefrauche ; aud the Forez, which 

 had Foours for its chief town. 

 LYS. [Bkloiuk; Schklde.] 

 LYS, ST. [Garonne, Haute.] 



LYTCHETT MALTRAVEllS, and LTTCSETT MINSTER. 

 [Devosshire.] 

 LYTHAM. [Li.KCAflHlBK.] 



