﻿901 



NANTUA. 



NAPLES. 



diatinguished BretoDB, are erected along tbia walk. The picturesque 

 gable-frontcd houses which in the older parts of the town overhang the 

 dark narrow streets, are fast disappearing under modem improvements. 

 In the new parts the streets are wide and well-paved; the houses are 

 built of stone and roofed with slates. 



The moat remarkable objects in Nantes are — the anci^'nt castle, the 

 birthplace of the Duchess Anne, which stands on the banks of the 

 Loire ; its chapel is now s powder magazine : the castle of BouSay, 

 which is now used as a prison : the cathedral of St-Pierre, the nave 

 and south transept of which alone is finished ; the portal entrance, the 

 wood carving, and the etone tracery of the organ loft in the nave, are 

 greaUy admired; in the south transept is the splendid mausoleum 

 erected by the Duchess Anne to Francis II., the lait duke of Bretagne, 

 and his wife Margaret of Foix : the prefect's residence, the finest 

 modem structure in Nantes; the exchange, which is adorned with 

 several statues ; the theatre, which stands in the Place Qraslin ; the 

 museum of natural history ; the picture gallery, which contains several 

 paintings by the great masters ; and the public library, which is on the 

 quay Brancas, and contains 30,000 volumes, besides several valuable 

 manuscripts. A lighthouse was erected in 18S1 for the benefit of the 

 commercial harbour. A new court-house (Palais de Justice) built in a 

 handsome palazzo style, consisting of a basement and two stories with 

 attics several windows' length on the sides, was opened in 1852. This 

 building contains several courts, reception halls, and depositories for 

 the archives of the department. The Due de Feltre's gallery of 

 pictures recently present.d to the town is placed in a building adjoining 

 the museum. 



Nantes contains 33 squares, 450 streets, and 16 bridges. The Place- 

 Boyalv, which presents a figure of nine sides, is formed by as many 

 masses of buildings constructed on a symmetrical plan ; t^e ground- 

 floors are occupied as shops, which for elegance and splendour are not 

 inferior to thoee of Paris or London. The Place Oraslin is smaller 

 than the preceding ; but it is magnificently built, and contains several 

 fine hotels. Suburbs are built on several of the islands and connected 

 by bridges ; and at the mouth of the Sivre is the suburb of Madeleine, 

 on the soQth aide of the Loire, through which th<) Bordeaux road 

 runs. 



The industrial products of Nantes are, white and printed cottons, 

 cotton-twist, refined sugar, ship cordage, glue, chemical products, 

 Uanketa, seige, flannel, ship biscuits, &c. Therj are several ship- 

 building Tarda, copper foundries, tan-yards, braudy distilleries, bleach- 

 millsi and dye-housea Vessels are fitted out for the whale and cod 

 fisheries. The foreign anil coasting tnule is active. The chief articles 

 of export are wine, brandy, woollen-cloths, silk, paper, linen, gold and 

 ■ilver lace, hardware, prepared meata, provisions, furniture, small 

 wares, books, &c ; the imports are composed of ship-timber, planks, 

 hemp, pitch and tar, steel, copper, lead, wool, raw cotton, oil, Spanish 

 wine, cochineal, dye-stuffs, gum, ivory, perfumes, and colonial produce. 

 Other articles of commerce are salt, butter, coal, building stone, hoops, 

 floor, vinegar, and agricultural implements. The total number of 

 Teasels that entered and cleared out of the harbour in 1852 amounted 

 to 14,935 ships and steamers of all sizes, with 580,843 tons burden, 

 and 61,573 men. 



Nantes gives title to a bishop, whose see is the department of 

 Loire-Inf(5rieure. It is the head-qnarters of the 15th Military Division, 

 and contains tribunals of first instance and of commerce, an exchange, 

 ■ eonocil of prud'-horamcs, a bank, several insutince offices, a custom- 

 lioase, a mmt, a school of hydrography, a college, an ecclesiastical 

 college, a school of medictoe, and several liteiary and benevolent insti- 

 tutions. Foreign consuls reside in Nantes. 



Nantee takes its name from the ancient Namnetes, whose capital it 

 was. Among the important events in ita more modem history are — 

 the marriage of the Duchess Anne to Louis XII. in 1499, which united 

 Bretagne to France ; the issuing of the edict of Henry IV., April 30, 

 1598, by which the Calvinista were guaranteed the free exercise of 

 their religion ; the revocation of this edict by Louis XIV. in 1685; the 

 fieree but unsuccessful attack which the town sustained (June 29, 1 793) 

 from the Vendeana under Catlielineau ; the unparalleled butcheries 

 committed soon after by Carrier and other republican agents ; and the 

 arrest of the Duchess de Berry, January 7, 1832. 



NANTUA. [Art.] 



NANtUCKF.T. fMASBACHUgirm.] 



NANTWICH, or NAMPT^VICH, Cheshire, a market-town and the 

 •eat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Nantwich, is situated on 

 the river Weaver, in 68° 4' N. Ut, 2° 30' W. long., distant 20 miles 

 S.E. by E. from Chester, and 164 miles N.E. from London by road. 

 The population of the town in 1851 was 6426. The living is a rectory 

 in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester. Nantwich Poor-Law 

 Union contains 84 parishes and townships, with an area of 104,315 

 »cra», and a population in 1851 of 85,948. 



Nantwich is mentioned in the Domesday Survey by the simple 

 designation Wick, and the salt-works, to which the town for so lon^ a 

 perirKJ owed its prosperity, are noticed. The town is in a low flat 

 situation, chiefly on tha right bank of the Weaver, and in irregularly 

 laid out. It consists of three principal streets, whiuh unite near the 

 church, and of some others. The houses are commonly old, built of 

 timl'rr and plaster, with large bay windows and projecting upper 

 stories. The church is cruciform, and is chiefly of the decorated style. 



It has an octagonal tower 110 feet high, rising from the intersection 

 of the nave and transepts. Wesleyan, Primitive, and Association 

 Methodists, Independents, Quakers, and Unitarians have places of 

 worship. There are a Free Grammar school, founded in 1561, which 

 had 35 scholars in 1853; a Blue-Cap school; National, Bzitiah, and 

 Infant schools ; a mechanics institute ; and a savings bank. 



The brine-springs and salt-works of Nantwich were of great cele- 

 brity and antiquity, but only one spring is now worked. The chief 

 manufactures are of shoes, gloves, and cotton goods. There .are some 

 malting establishments. Several canals unite in the neighbourhood 

 of the town. The weekly market is on Saturday ; a large market for 

 cattle is held once a fortnight, on Saturday, in February and March. 

 There are four yearly fairs. A county court is held in the town. 



NAPERVILLK. [Illi.nois.J 



NAPLES, KINGDOM OF, is the name commonly given to tha 

 continental part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In the adminis- 

 trative language of the couutry it is styled Sicilia Citeriore, ' Hither 

 Sicily,' or Dominj di quh dal Faro, 'Territories on this side of the 

 Straits of Messina." It comprises the southern half of Italy, beiug 

 bounded N.W. by the Papal States, and on every other side by the 

 sea. The frontier line between the kingdom of Naples and the Papal 

 States begins on the coast of the Mediterranean, at the tower Dei 

 Confini, which is a mile or two S.E. from Terracina. Then follows 

 an ofiset of the Lepini Mountains as far as the valley of the river 

 Sacco. Crossing that valley, the line proa:-eds first in a northern and 

 afterwards in a north-north-western direction along several ramifi- 

 cations of the Apennines, which divide the waters of the Liri from 

 those of the Anio ; then ascending the loftier group to the west of 

 the Lake Fucino, it desc^-nds the Salto into the valley of the Veliuo, 

 crosses that river a little to the east of Rieti, and then crosses tlio 

 central ridge of the Apennines between the sources of the Nera and 

 those of the Tronto. Descending along the eastern slope of the 

 central ridge, the line follows an ofi'set which skirts the right bank of 

 the Tronto, and afterwards, below Ascoli, the river itself forms the 

 boundary down to the Adriatic. The whole of this tortuous boundary- 

 line (which in all the vicissitudes of the country, for eight centuries, 

 has never varied) is about 150 miles ; but tha direct distance, from the 

 Mediterranean to tho Adriatic coast is not quite 120 miles. Four 

 roads, which are ultimately reduced to two, lead into the kingdom ; 

 one by Terracina to Fondi. along th>; coast of the Mediterranean ; the 

 second from Rome, by Palcitrina and the valley of the Sacco, into the 

 valley of the Liris, and thence into the valley of the Volturno, where 

 it joins the former; the third, by Rieti, Civita Ducale, and Antrodooo, 

 to Aquila and the valley of the Pescara ; and the fourth by Ascoli to 

 Teramo, and along the coast of the Adriatic to the banks of the 

 Pescara likewise. 



The greatest length of the kingdom of Naples, from the Tronto to 

 Capo Spartivento, at the southern extremity of Calabria, is about 

 850 miles, in a line running through the centre of the peninsula. The 

 breadth varies; in the northern part, between the mouths of the 

 Oarigliaoo and Pescara, it is about 85 miles wide; between Cape 

 Misenum and the mouth of the Fortore it is 1 00 miles ; and from 

 Naples to Vietri, on the promontory of Mount Qargano, it is 125 

 miles. From Naples to Manfredonia it is about 100 miles. South of 

 Naples, the Gulf of Salerno on one side, and that of Manfredonia on 

 the other, reduco the bretidth to 83 miles ; but farther south it again 

 widens from the point of Lioosa, near Paestum, to Moii di Bari, on 

 the Adriatic, a distance of 130 miles, which is the utmost breadth that 

 the kingdom of Naples attains. The lapygian peninsula projects in 

 an oblique direction to the line of breadtlx for about 90 miles, with a 

 mean breadth of 30 miles. 



The breadth of the kingdom again becomes contracted between the 

 Gulf of Taranto on the east and the Gulf of Policastro on the west, 

 it being about 65 miles from the mouth of the Bradano to that of the 

 Trecchina. It becomes still narrower to the southward : it is 15 miles 

 between the Gulf of Lao and the Gulf of Taranto ; and 35 miles from 

 the mouth of the Cratis to Cape Cetraro, after which it widens again 

 to near 80 miles for a length of about 50 miles. South of the Cape 

 delle Colonne the land becomes contracted into a narrow isthmus 

 about 14 miles across, between the gulfs of Sqvullace and Sant' Eufo- 

 mia, and beyond this it spreads again to a breadth of 25 to 35 miles 

 throughout the length of the province of Calabria Ultra. The popu- 

 lation of the continental dominions numbered in 1825, 6,466,664 ; in 

 1832, 5,809,000; in 1837, 6,021,2'i4 ; and in 1851, 6,612,892. Of the 

 population about two-thirds live by agriculture, about half a million 

 by manufactures and other mechanical labour, another half million by 

 trade, including sailors and fishermen ; the priests, monks, and nuns 

 amount to about 60,000; lawyers, 8000; medical men about 9000; 

 and persons employed under government 30,000. 



The provinces of the kingdom are notic-d under their proper heads, 

 and to these the reader of this work is referred for a more particular 

 description of the surface, and for the topography of the towns, &c. 

 In the present article only a brief general survey of the country, its 

 rewurces, and productions can be given. [AruLiA ; Bari, Terra di; 

 Cai'Itakata ; &c.J 



The Apennines, which run through the centre of the kingdom, form 

 in several parts large masses and high table-lands, which, with their 

 numerous ofiset'", occupy, especially in the southern part, almost tho 



