Charles VIII. and Louis XII. with the heiress of Brittany, this last province was united to the crown of France. Francis I. confiscated the provinces of Auvergne, Bourbonnais, and Marche, and united them to his kingdom. By the accession of Henry IV. to the throne, Bearn, Foix, and part of Gascony, were added to France. Roussillon, formerly belonging to Spain, was ceded to France in 1659. Artois, formerly belonging to the Spanish Netherlands, was ceded to Louis XIV. by Charles II. of Spain. Alsace was also seized by Louis XIV. and ceded to him by the peace of Ryswick, in 1697. Franche-Comté was also seized by the same monarch in 1668, and again in 1674; and afterwards ceded and confirmed to him by the treaties of Nimeguen and Ryswick. That part of the Netherlands which France is still permitted to retain, was acquired by conquest during the reign of Louis XIV. Lorraine was the last acquisition of France previous to the late revolution: Louis XV. having, upon the death of his father-in-law, Stanislaus, seized upon the duchy of Lorraine, properly so called, and also the duchy of Bar, both of which were afterwards ceded to him by treaty. Present Limits.] France, by the treaty of Paris in 1814, was reduced nearly to the same limits that bounded it previously to the revolution, although by that treaty, she actually obtained an extension of territory, and an additional population of 700,000 persons; but, by the treaty of November 20th, 1815, she was compelled to part with these acquisitions, and also to cede the fortresses of Philippeville and Marienburg, with their dependant districts in French Hainault, together with the whole duchy of Bouillon, to the sovereign prince of the Netherlands, the fortress of SareLouis, and the course of the Saare, to Prussia,—and the important fortress of Landau, with all the left bank of the Lauter, to Germany. Part of the county of the Gex, and the town of Versoix, was also ceded to the Helvetic Confederacy. Divisions.] Before the revolution, France was divided into 32 provinces, or distinct governments. By a new arrangement in 1790, it was divided into 83 departments; and subsequently the addition of Corsica, and of the Venaissin or department of Vaucluse, together with the forma tion of the department of the Garonne and Tarn, completed the present number of 86 departments. But as the old divisions, though no longer subservient to the political organization of the country, still continue to be referred to, and are firmly incorporated with the language, they shall be enumerated, along with their corresponding departments, and the population of each department, as stated by the Société de Géographes of Paris in 1828. We must also observe, that each department is subdivided into districts, called arrondissements, of which there are 368 in the kingdom. These districts are again divided into 2,669 cantons; and finally, each canton is composed of a certain number of communes, that is to say, of towns and villages, of which there are 38,990 at present. A commune is sometimes a single town, and sometimes several villages united, possessing a mayor and communal municipality. All the considerable cities are divided into several communes. The Gauls.] The earliest accounts of France, as indeed of almost all the nations of Europe, are to be found in the historians of Rome. When Gaul first became an object of Roman ambition, it was peopled by the Celts or Gauls,-tribes possessing much bravery, and long opposing very formidable obstacles to the progress of the Roman arms. By Julius Cæsar this country was at length subdued; and, though the submission of its inhabitants was always somewhat doubtful, Gaul continued to be accounted a Roman province until the dissolution of the Western empire laid the foundation of those divisions of territory, which, at present, are found in Europe. The Franks.] The German tribe of the Franks inhabited the country around the Middle Rhine when those convulsions took place which shook the Roman empire to its foundation. This barbarous but warlike tribe perceiving the decay of Roman discipline and valour, first entered the province of Gaul during the reign of Valerian, about the year 254. They were at this time, and at many subsequent periods, repelled; but, persevering in their efforts, they succeeded in establishing a monarchy in Flanders; and about 420 we find them governed by Pharamond, a prince of their own race, who reigned at Tournay. Clovis I.] Clovis, the son of Childeric I., having gained the battle of Soissons against the Roman general Siagrius in 485, expelled the Romans from the whole territory between the Rhine and the Loire, and laid the first permanent foundation of the French monarchy. Influenced by the persuasions of his wife Clotilde, Clovis received baptism in the year 496 at the hands of Remigius, archbishop of Rheims; and the legend tells that a dove brought from heaven a small bottle of oil with which he was solemnly anointed by Remigius after having been crowned king of the Franks. This holy oil is still used for the anointment of the kings of France. To secure his numerous conquests, and, perhaps, in his own view, to acquire a better right to them, he assumed the title of Roman consul, and Augustus. The nation of the Armoricans who inhabited the country between the Seine, the Loire, and the Ocean, voluntarily submitted to Clovis, who established his seat of empire at Paris, after having slain Alaric king of the Visigoths in the battle of Vouillé, near Poitiers, and taken possession of all the country between the Loire and the Pyrenees. Clovis died in 511 at the age of 45; though a murderer, he is enrolled in the calendar of Catholic saints. He is supposed by some to have enacted the Salique law, which, in France, excludes females from the crown, though others refer it to a more remote period. Childebert to Clotaire II.] The death of Clovis was followed by the partition of his dominions among his four sons, Thierry, Clodomir, Clotaire, and Childebert, a circumstance which proved fatal to the tranquillity of the country. Clotaire mounted the throne without a rival in 560. He died in 562; and repeated his father's error by leaving his monarchy to his four sons. The brothers divided the kingdom by lot, and soon afterwards Sigebert, king of Austrasia, was assassinated. Chilperic, king of Soissons, another of the brothers, shared the same fate; and Gontran, king of Orleans, one of the remaining brothers, died in 593: so that Childebert, the survivor, was now sole monarch. He died in 596, and was succeeded by his two sons Theodobert and Thierry; but as they were both very young, the kingdom was placed under the regency of Brunehaut, the widow of Sigebert. No sooner had the brothers attained that age at which they were capable of managing the reins of government than they quarrelled, and Theodobert lost his life in the struggle which followed. Thierry died in 612, and Clotaire II., the son of Chilperic by Fredegonde, succeeded to the whole kingdom, which he enjoyed without a rival, until his death in 628. Maires du Palais.] It would be tedious to follow minutely the distracted history of the Merovingian race of monarchs. It consists of little else than a continued series of usurpations and murders. By degrees, the monarchs, through the superior influence of the Maires du Palais, or 'the mayors of the palace,' were rendered merely nominal sovereigns. This dignity became hereditary, in 687, in the person of Pepin-Héristel. Charles Martel, who had raised himself to this office, exercised his power with vigour and prudence. He defeated the Saracens, and slew their king Abdérame, in a great battle betwixt Tours and Poitiers, in 732, and conquered the Frisons in 733. After the death of Thierry II., Charles Martel held the reins of government during the interregnum, under the title of Duke of France. At his death in 741, his son, Pepin the Short, succeeded to the regency and conducted the affairs of the kingdom with great prudence. He caused Childeric III. to be proclaimed king, in 742; but that prince soon proved himself incapable of swaying the rod of empire, and was sent by his dissatisfied nobles to spend the remainder of his days in the monastery of St-Bertin, where the last of the Merovingian dynasty expired in 754. Pepin the Short.] Pepin was now proclaimed king of France at Soissons, and continued to augment his dominions by several important conquests. He made himself master of Bretagne and Narbonne; protected the Pope from the insults of Astolphus, king of the Lombards; laid the foundation of his Holiness's temporal power, by bestowing on him the Exarchate of Ravenna; reduced the Saxons and Gascons; drove the Saracens out of the land; and, at the death of duke Waifre, added Aquitaine to his other territories. This prince, who seems to have united in his person both the virtues and the vices of a conqueror, died at St-Denis, on the 24th of September 768, after a reign of 17 years. The epitaph which was inscribed upon his tomb, was: Pepin, père de Charlemagne. Charlemagne.] Pepin was succeeded by his two sons, Carloman and Charles; of whom the latter was afterwards distinguished by the name of Charlemagne. The death of Carloman in 771, left Charles sole monarch of his father's dominions, and free to exert those superior powers which afterwards rendered him so remarkable. Having already sketched the reign of this monarch in our history of Germany, we need not return upon it here. The latter part of his existence was embittered by the death of his children, all of whom he survived, with the exception of Louis whom he associated with himself in the government. After this transaction, the life of Charles lasted only a few months. He died in the beginning of the year 814, after a career almost continually prosperous and generally directed to the benefit of those whom he governed. Under his sway the coasts of Provence and Languedoc became enlivened by commerce with the Mediterranean; the merchants of Marseilles trafficked with those of Alexandria, Damascus, and Bagdad; and the pirates of the North were compelled to espect his power. Louis I. or le Debonnaire.] Charles is said to have given to his son Louis many excellent maxims for the government of the empire; but Louis, a weak and superstitious prince, was ill-qualified to govern a country so extensive and variously peopled. Louis was mild and gentle, better . qualified to cultivate the arts of peace than of war, and altogether too indecisive to curb the insolent conduct of many of his subjects. Previous to his accession to the empire, he had espoused Ermengarde, daughter of the count of Hesbai, in Liege; and to lighten the weight of a crown, |