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Birilr.-uix. tory. Yet such was the language that he actually 

 l-Y I held. " It is highly reasonable," said he, " that 

 God be fully satisfied ; and at least in purgatory I 

 will suffer with patience and with love." He expi- 

 red on the second day after he was taken ill, in the 

 72d year of his age ; and his death excited univer- 

 sal and unfeigned regret. Different opinions have 

 been entertained of the merit of his sermons. While 

 some have given them the highest praise, others have 

 spoken of them as far below mediocrity ; and one 

 writer is so outrageous in his censure, as to say, that 

 they are nothing more than empty harangues. It is 

 evident that a man who was so popular as Bourda- 

 loue, in such circumstances as those in which he was 

 placed, and preaching before such audiences as he ad- 

 dressed, must have possessed great talents, and pro- 

 duced excellent discourses : though, it must be ad- 

 mitted, at the same time, that popularity depends, in 

 a great measure, on the voice, the appearance, the 

 manner, and the character of the preacher, as well as 

 on the extent of his knowledge, and the strength of 

 his understanding. But really he who can peruse 

 Bourdaloue's sermons without admiration, must be 

 destitute either of taste or of candour. They have 

 some great faults, but their excellencies certainly pre- 

 dominate. Dr Blair gives the following character of 

 them, which appears to be tolerably just : " Bour- 

 daloue is indeed a great reasoner, and inculcates his 

 doctrines with much zeal, piety, and earnestness ; 

 but his style is verbose, he is disagreeably full of 

 quotations from the fathers, and he wants imagina- 

 tion." The reader will find some good remarks on 

 Bourdaloue's sermons in Hill's Life of Blair. (T) 



BOURDEAUX, or BORDEAUX, in the depart- 

 ment of the Gironde, and capital of what was for- 

 merly the province of Guienne, is one of the most 

 ancient and flourishing cities in France. It was 

 known by the name of Burdigalia, in the time, of the 

 Romans, by whom it seems to have been originally 

 founded, or at least greatly enlarged ; and of whose 

 architectural improvements it still retains many dis- 

 tinct vestiges. Besides a number of ancient statues, 

 medals, and inscriptions, which have been found at 

 different periods within its limits, we may mention, 

 as its principal antiquities, a temple dedicated to the 

 tutelary deities of the place, of which some very lofty 

 columns are to be seen ; the lower gate, which is sup- 

 posed to have been built in the time of Augustus ; 

 the palace of Gallienus, of which only two gates and 

 a few walls remain ; and an oval amphitheatre, 227 

 feet in length, and 140 in breadth. In the fifth cen- 

 tury, it was in the possession of the Goths ; and was 

 repeatedly ravaged and burned during the savage in- 

 cursions of the Normans. It was afterwards govern- 

 ed by sovereigns of its own, who were titled Dukes, 

 Counts, &c. ; but, by the marriage of Eleanor, only 

 daughter of William the tenth, and last Duke of 

 Guienne, to Louis VII., surnamed the Young, it was 

 united, with its province, to France. This lady, 

 however, having been divorced by the French king, 

 in 1152, and afterwards marrying Henry of Norman- 

 dy, who succeeded to the crown of England, Gui- 

 enne, with its capital Bourdeaux, became subject to 

 the princes of that country, by whom it was greatly 

 enlarged and beautified: To this city Edward, the 



VOL. IV. PART J. 



Black Prince, conducted his royal captive, John, Bourdeaur- 

 King of France, after the battle of I'olctieis, in ' 

 1356 ; made it the seat of his court for the space of 

 eleven years ; and raised it to a high degree of splen- 

 dour and renown. After having been neatly tl 

 centuries in the possession of the English, it was re- 

 united to France by Charles VII., who (.taoKhed a 

 parliament in tho place, and built the Chateau Trom- 

 pette, to defend the mouth of the harbour. In the 

 year 1518, a violent insurrection was excited through- 

 out the whole province, by the grievance of a salt 

 tax ; and, in the heat of their resentment, the inhabi- 

 tants of Bourdeaux seized and massacred the king's 

 lieutenant M. de Monems, together with one of his 

 friends who attempted his rescue. The constable 

 Montmorency was dispatched with a body of troops, 

 to suppress these tumultuous proceedings ; but, 

 though the inhabitants of Bourdeaux submissively 

 opened their gates to receive him, he refused to enter 

 their city, except through a breach in the wall ; post- 

 ed his soldiers with artillery at the entrance of every 

 street, and treated it in every respect as a town taken 

 by storm. He declared its privileges to be forfeited ; 

 seized its bells and records ; condemned to death 100 

 substantial tradesmen ; imposed a fine of 2000 livre?; 

 suspended the parliament from the exercise of its 

 functions ; compelled the magistrates, with 100 of 

 the principal citizens, to dig the body of Monems 

 out of his grave with their fingers, that it might be 

 solemnly interred in the church of St Andrews; com- 

 manded the town house to be thrown down, and a 

 chapel to be erected in its place, where public pray- 

 ers should annually be offered for the soul of the 

 murdered governor. Bourdeaux suffered very se- 

 verely during the civil wars in France, in the time of 

 Henry IV. ; but was preserved for the crown by the 

 good conduct of Marshall Matignon, in opposition to 

 all the powers of the League. 



The town is situated on the west bank of the Ga- 

 ronne, about 40 miles from its mouth, and where the 

 river is between 300 and 400 toises in breadth. The 

 tide flows as far as the city, to" the height of twelve 

 feet, so as to be navigable for vessels ot a considera- 

 ble burden. The harbour is large and commodious ; 

 and the quay, which borders the river, is of v,-ry 

 great extent, but neither kept in good repair, nor 

 built with any degree of regularity or magnificence. 

 Indeed the vessels cannot be brought close to the 

 pavement, but require to be loaded and unloaded by 

 the help of barges. It appears, from the following 

 lines of Ausonius, that the town was formerly of a 

 quadrangular form 



Quadrea murnrum species, sic turribus ahis 

 Ardua-t ut avrias intrentfastigia nubes ; 



but its modern appearance is that of a crescent or se- 

 micircle, of which the river forms the side. It is sur- 

 rounded by an old wall, with twelve gates, and three 

 forts ; but the ramparts are in a ruinous condition, 

 and all its means of defence are of very little import- 

 ance. The streets chiefly run towards the harbour, 

 and are in general narrow and inelegant ; but, since 

 the end of the American war, the place has under- 

 gone great improvements, and many new streets have 

 been built, both in the city and suburbs, in a hand- 

 3 E 



