LISLE. 
?SS 
city of France, and principal place of a diftrift in the de¬ 
partment of the North. Before the revolution it was the 
capital of French Flanders; and fome have not hefitated 
to call it the fecond town i:i the French dominions. It 
was built by Baldwin earl of Flanders, or rather : moroved 
and erefted into a city by him, becaufe he was born in 
its neighbourhood, and from thence caiied Baldwin de 
Lifle. It was walled in 1046, and met with fo many fa¬ 
vours from the fovereigns of Flanders, that by degrees it 
became one of the finelt towns in all that rich province. 
Louis XIV. reduced it in perfon in the year 1667. In 
the year 1668, it was yielded to him by the peace of Aix- 
la-Chapelle; and from that time the king of France fpared 
neither pains nor coft in fortifying and adornii% it. The 
famous Vauban erected a citadel the mod regular, and at 
the fame time one of the ftrongeft, that had ever been feen, 
of which he remained governor to his death. The town 
itfelf was alfo fortified in fuch a manner, that it was held 
impregnable. It is feated on the river Deule, in the midft 
of rivulets, pools, and marlhes, whence its name 1 'IJlc, or 
the Ifland ; though it is called by the Flemings Ryjfel, and 
from its beauty and riches It petit Paris. In the year 1708 
it was befieged by the duke of Marlborough and prince 
Eugene. As foon as this liege was apprehended, the 
marfhal de Boufflers, governor of Flanders, demanded 
leave to Ihow his zeal for the king’s fervice, by defending 
it in perfon, which was granted. He had under him the 
marquis de Sourville, M. de ia Lande, and many other 
officers of note; and a very flrong garrifon. On the whole, 
the French were fo fanguine, that they fancied the place 
out of danger; and the duke de Vendome is reported to 
have faid, “he did not think fo wife a commander as 
prince Eugene would venture on fo ralh an undertaking.” 
The liege was however proceeded in, and with very good 
fuccefs. During the courfe of it, the duke of Burgundy 
being very uneaiy for want of intelligence from Lille, an 
officer in his army, one captain Duboys, boldly determined 
to attempt getting into the city, notwithftanding the ltridt 
guards kept by the befiegers ; and he was fo lucky as 
to fucceed. He undrefTed himfelf, and, having hid his 
clothes, fwarn over feven canals and ditches, and fo got 
into the town. Marlhal Boufflers, having provided him 
clothes, Ihowed him the condition all things were in ; and, 
having written a letter to the duke, he rolled it up in wax, 
which the captain put in his mouth; then he religned the 
fuit the marlhal had given him, fwam over the fame 
ditches, drelfed himfelf on the other fide in the clothes he 
left behind him, and returned fafe to the duke of Bur¬ 
gundy with the intelligence he wanted. The French fay, 
that marfhal Boufflers acquainted the duke of Burgundy 
by this gentleman, that it' the allies could be but difap- 
pointed of one convoy, the liege muft be raifed. No¬ 
thing, however, could avert the fate of Lifle. It was re¬ 
duced after about three months fiege, and the lofs of eigh¬ 
teen or twenty thoufand men; but was reflored by the 
treaty of Utrecht, on condition that the fortifications of 
.Dunkirk ihould be demolilhed. 
Lifle underwent another memorable fiege in the year 
3792, when the Auftrians invelted it, and on the 29th of 
September began a heavy cannonading againft it, which 
continued incefiantly till the 6th of Oiftober, when they 
were obliged to raife the fiege, after having thrown into 
the city about 30,000 red-hot balls, befides 6000 bombs. 
At prefent it is faid to contain 170 lfreets, 30 fquares, 
8000 houfes, and, by the moft recent ftatement, 54,756 
inhabitants. Before the revolution it had feveral religious 
houfes. It was divided into feven parifhes, and had feven 
gates, fome of which were admired for the (fyle of their ar¬ 
chitecture. Its manufactures are thofe of cloth, camlets, 
nankeens, fluffs of filk and woollen, cotton, linen of all 
qualities and defigns, lace, ribbons, carpets, bats, (lock¬ 
ings, paper, foap, &c. Lifle is fourteen miles well of 
Tournay, thirty-two fouth-well of Ghent, thirty-leven 
north-welt of Mons, and one hundred and thirty north of 
ikiris. Lat. 50. 83. N. Ion. 3. 9. E. 
LI'SLE, a town of France, in the department of the 
Dordogne: nine miles eaft-north-eaft of Riberac, and nine 
north-weft of Perigueux. 
LI SLE, a town of France, in the department of the 
Yonne: twenty-four miles fouth-eafl of Auxerre, and fe¬ 
ven north-north-eall of Avallon. 
LI'SLE, a poft-town of North America, in Tioga coun¬ 
ty, New York; through which paffes a branch of the 
Chenengo. 
LI'SLE (De), the name of feveral very eminent Frenck 
aftronomers and geographers. 
LI'SLE (Claude de), was born at Vaucouliers, in the 
diocefe of Tool, in Lorraine, in the year 1644. He was 
educated by the Jefuits at Pont-a-Mouffon; and at the 
age of feventeen took his degrees in law, and was admitted 
an advocate; but, foon conceiving adiflike to that profef- 
fion, he renounced the ftudy of jurifprudence, and de¬ 
voted himfelf entirely to that of hiftory and geography. 
For the fake of enjoying the bell advantages for improve¬ 
ment in thefe branches of learning, he removed to Paris, 
where at length he commenced private leClurer on hiltory 
and geography ; and acquired fuch high reputation in this 
profeifion, that he could boaft of having been mailer to the 
principal nobility at the French court. Among others, 
the duke of Orleans, afterwards regent, was feveral years 
under his inftrudlion, and always entertained a high re¬ 
gard for him, of which he gave him repeated proofs. De 
Lifle died at Paris, in 1720, in the feventy-fixth year of 
his age. He was the author of, 1. An hiftorical Account 
of the Kingdom of Siam, 1684,12010. 2. A genealogical 
and hiftorical Atlas, on engraved Plates; chiefly the la¬ 
bour of the two laft years of his life, of which apart was 
publifhed in 1718. 3. Letters on geographical lubjefts, 
printed in the Journal des Savans, particularly for the 
year 1700. 4. An Abridgment of Univerfal Hiftory, from 
the Creation of the World to 1714, 7 vols. compiled from 
the author’s hiftorical leftures, but not publifhed till after 
his death, in 1731. 5. An Introdu&ion to Geography, 
publifhed in 1746, in two vols. nmo. in the name of lijs 
eldefl foil, the fubjefl of the next article. 
LI'SLE (William de), a very learned French geogra¬ 
pher, was the foil of the preceding, and born at Paris in 
the year 1675. He difcovered his genius for geographical 
fludies when he was only nine years of age, at which 
early period he began to defign maps, and foon made a 
rapid progrefs in that art. By his ftudious enquiries, and 
fcientific (kill, he brought it to a degree of perfection 
which eclipfed the glory of his moft famous predeceftors, 
and will hand down his name to pofterity with diftinguifh- 
ed honour. With laudable pride he would often acknow¬ 
ledge, that, if he poffeffed any merit, he was indebted 
for it to the inftruftions and advice of his father, who 
took upon himfelf the direction of his firft fludies. To¬ 
wards the clofe of the year 1669, he firft offered himfelf a 
candidate for public favour, by publiftiing a map of the 
world, maps of Europe, Alia, Africa, and America, a 
map of Italy, one of ancient Africa immediately after the 
deftruftion of Carthage, and two globes, one celeftia], the 
other terreftrial. Thefe performances were received with 
univerfal applaufe, and, by their vaft: improvements on 
the labours of preceding geographers, eftabliffled his claim 
to unrivalled excellence. They were fucceeded by va¬ 
rious other produftions in the fame department of fcience, 
which have contributed, equally with the former, to per¬ 
petuate the author’s fame. In the year 1702, a proper 
tribute of refpeft was paid to his merit, by giving him a 
place in the Academy of Sciences. In 1718, he was ap. 
pointed firft: geographer to the king, and cenfor royal, 
with a penfion : he had alfo the honour of being appointed 
geographical tutor to the young king Louis XV. for whofe 
ufe he drew up feveral works; and in particular, a gene¬ 
ral map of the world, and another of the famous retreat 
of the ten thoufand. He alfo drew up A Treatife on the 
Courfe of ail known Rivers; valuable for refearch, and for 
corre&neis. So high was the reputation which De Lifle 
1 hai 
