598 



FKA.NCE. 



2. Canals. There are 86 canals in France, having a total length of 2,350 miles ; only the 

 principal can be mentioned here. The Canal of Languedoc extends from the Garonne, near 

 Toulouse, to Cette, on the Mediterranean, which it thus connects with the Atlantic. It is 142 

 miles in length, 60 feet wide, and 6 deep, and passes through the hill of Malpas, by a tunnel 

 720 feet long. The Canal of the Centre, or the Charollais Canal, connects the Loire with 

 the Saone, at Chalons, and is 72 miles ni length. The Canal of JMousieur connecX'i the Saone 

 with the Rhine, at Strasburg, passing by Dole, Besancon, Monibeliard, and Muhlhausen, with 

 a branch to Bale ; total length, 215 miles. The Canal of Burgundy, 150 miles in length, 

 connects the Yonne, a tributary of the Seine, with the Saone, passing by Dijon, and thus 

 forms a communication between the English Channel and the Mediterranean. The Briars 

 Canal connects the Loire, at Briare, wilii the Seine, passing by Montargis ; length, 67 miles, 

 the Orleans Canal, which terminates near that town, and connects the Loire with the Briaro 

 Canal, may be considered a branch of the latter ; it is 45 miles long. The Canal of Brittany 

 extends fron^!^ntes to Brest, a distance of 230 miles. The St. Quenlin Ca?i«Z connects the 

 Oise, at Chauny, with the Scheldt, at Canibray, passing by St. Quenlin ; length, 53 miles. 

 The Somme Canal connects the last mentioned with the Channel, passing by Ham, Peronne, 

 and Amiens, in the valley of the Somme, and terminating at St. Valery, at the mouth of that 

 river. 



3. Toivns. Paris, the capital of France, and the second city of Europe, in point of pop- 

 ulation, stands upon both sides of the Seine, having a circuit o!' about 15 miles, and containing 



900,000 Inhabitants. It is upwards of 200 miles 

 from the mouth of the Seine by the course of the 

 though but 112 miles from Havre, at its 

 mouth, by the post roads. The environs do not 

 present the same variety of gardens, parks, and 

 villas, as those of London, nor is the stream of 

 life in the great streets, the crowd of carriages, 

 horsemen, wagons, and foot passengers, so great 

 as In the neighborhood of the British capital. But 

 it may be considered the capital of the world for 

 the sciences, arts, and politeness. It is enclosed 

 by a wall 17 miles in circuit, and is more closely 

 built and inhabited than London. Surveyed from 

 a central point, it presents a form nearly circular, 

 with the river flowing through it. In the river are 

 3 small Islands, one of which, in the time of Julius 

 Cffisar, was inhabited by a tribe of barbarians, called Parisii, and from them the city, which 

 gradually grew up around their cottages of clay and straw, received its name. By the Romans, 

 it was called Lutetia, and the Emperor Julian made it his residence. Ciovis made it the seat 

 of his court ; it was enlarged by many of the French Kings, and Napoleon added those vast 

 improvements and embellishments which render it the admiration of every visiter.* 



The eastern part Is the inost ancient, and most irregularly built ; here the streets arc narrow 



river. 



* Paris is untier eternal obligations to Bonaparto ; he did 

 more for it than even Louis the Fourteentli. He combined, 

 in a greater degree, the useful with the magnificent. Des- 

 potic as he was, he saw that the mass of people consti- 

 tuted a power which must not be dazzled merely, as in the 

 time of Louis the Fourteenth, but conciliated and served. 

 His designs are said to have been essentially his own. It 

 seems most probable, that they could have been conceived 

 only by the same mind which had the force, energy, and 

 resources to execute them. He freed the brido-es and 

 banks of the Seine from the embarrassment and deformity 

 of the old houses, by which they v.'ere still crowded ; 

 built magnificent quays and wharves, and erected four 

 bridges of remarkable beauty, as monuments of art ; he- 

 fr.re the Garden ot Plants, from the He St. Louis to the 

 He de la Cite ; from the Louvre to the palace of the In- 

 stitute ; from the Quai de Chaillot to the Champ de I\lars. 

 He not only conceived (for even the conception was a 

 great merit) but had nearly executed, at his fall, the Ca- 

 nal del'Ourcq, a gigantic public work, commencing at the 

 river of that name, receiving tributary streams, communi- 

 cating with other canals for the convenience and transport 



of inland commerce, and conducted over a line of 1.1 

 leagues, to the plain of LaV'illette, 83 feet above the level 

 of the tieine, for llie purpose of supplying water to the 

 capital. He distributed the public supply of water by 15 

 new and abundant fountains, of which some are beautiful 

 specimens of architecture. The people, not merely of 

 Paris, but of the whole kingdom, are indebted to him for 

 the spacious markets, so commodiously arranged for the 

 sale of every kind of produce ; for public stores, espe- 

 cially the wine stores, which surprise, by their vastness, 

 the happy ingenuit}' of tlieir distribution, and their 

 architectural grandeur. He erected, near the barriers, 

 5 ahaltoirs or slaughter-houses, and thus relieved the city 

 from the inconvenient and dangerous presence of herds 

 of catlle, the revolting spectacle of blood, and the noxious 

 miasmata of butchery and tallow melting. He cleared the 

 Place du Carousel, between the Louvre and the Tuileries, 

 of its obstruction and nuisances ; adorned it with a tri- 

 umphal arch, and filled its Gallery with sculptures and 

 paintings; he built a second gallery from the adjacent an- 

 gle, so as to complete the square of the vast area of the 

 Carousal, and tlie junction of the Louvre with the Tulle- 



