THEROUANNE. 197 



wood, that when the trees are in full foliage; nothing of 

 country life can surpass the quiet loveliness of these rural 

 habitations. 



The following is a list of the principal villages along 

 the banks of the Lys, from Fruges to Therouanne ; Lugy, 

 Hezecques, Matringhem, Dennebrouecque, Capelle, Coy- 

 ecques, and Delette. There are excellent accommodations 

 at all the auberges and cabarets on the route, both com- 

 fortable and cheap. 



At a village called Herbelle, which is on a small 

 stream parallel with the Lys, and but a short distance 

 from Therouanne, the angler may catch gudgeons in any 

 quantity. There are millions of them. 



Therouanne is, in a historical point of view, one of 

 the most celebrated localities in the whole Pas de Calais. 

 Its great antiquity, its former importance as a military 

 station, the great events of which it has been the theatre, 

 the numerous sieges it has sustained, and the calamities 

 to which its inhabitants have been exposed by the vicis- 

 situdes of war, contribute to render it a place of great 

 interest to the antiquarian and the historian. Under 

 the Romans, subjected originally by Julius Caesar, it was 

 taken by assault by Maximus, the competitor of Gratian. 

 Attila, the Hun, sacked and burned the place in the year 

 451 . The Normans ravaged it in 881 and in 884. It was 

 again consumed by the Flemish in 1303; and, after the 

 battle of Crecy, the English seized upon the town and 

 committed it to the flames. In the year 1531, Henry 

 VIII. took it after a desperate siege of nine weeks. In 

 1553, Charles V. appeared before it in person, at the 

 head of an army of sixty thousand men. The conflict 

 was of the most dreadful character. The Spaniards 

 treated the garrison with humanity, but remorselessly put 



