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LYONS, the capital of the department of the Rhone, and, next to Paris, the most important city in all France, lies at the confluence of the Rhone and the Saone. It is picturesquely situated, partly in the valleys of these two rivers, and partly on the surrounding hills in a charming country, filled with country houses and gardens. The Rhone which, with the Saone, flows through the city, divides it into two parts, called Rhone-town and Saone-town, these are subdivided into twenty-eight divisions, which are united with each other by means of four bridges over the Rhone, and ten over the Saone. The suburbs of Lyons are of considerable extent; and the population, including the suburbs, is estimated at two hundred thousand inhabitants. Since the two last great rebellions, it has been fortified by detached forts, which surround and command the city, and which seem erected rather for the purpose of overawing, than defending, the town. The streets are mostly narrow, angular, and uneven; the houses, massy and solid, but disfigured by their great height, which sometimes ascends to seven stories. The quays, along the banks of the river, and the promenade, are remarkably fine, as are most of the fifty-six public squares. In Lyons there are about fifty churches, the finest edifices in the city. The city of Lyons possesses many scientific and benevolent associations; one, the great Hospital, which annually relieves nine thousand poor people; a second, the Hôtel Dieu, which was established as early as the sixth century, by Childebert. In this noble establishment, twelve thousand patients are admitted yearly. Lyons is the first manufacturing city of France; the manufacture of hats and silks being the principal.

The average number of looms is estimated at twenty-five thousand, the number of workmen who derive their subsistence from this branch of manufacture about double that number, and the value of the silk thus produced at about three million pounds sterling. The rail-road to St. Etienne will soon be united to that of Paris, and onward to Marseilles.

Lyons was an important city of ancient Gaul, its name being Lugdunum. The town under the Romans gradually increased, Augustus residing here for several years. The Emperor Claudius was born in Lyons; Maxentius and Gratianus died here. Under the reign of Nero, Lyons was destroyed by a conflagration; but it was soon rebuilt, and the emperor conferred upon it the first rank. It was in Lyons too that Christianity first took firm root in Gaul, the blood of many martyrs being here shed. Lyons suffered severely from the barbarian tribes in their migrations through Europe. Stilicho resigned it (407) to the Burgundians, who made it the capital of their empire in Gaul; Attila destroyed it by fire in 451; and, in 534, it was con

VOL. III.

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