NOWLEDGE IT IS

Magazine.

VOL. XI.

322

THE TOWN OF ABBEVILLE IN FRANCE. ABBEVILLE is a town in the North of France, between Calais and Paris. It lies to the South of Calais at the distance of rather more than one hundred miles by the road; and to the North of Paris at the distance of about eighty miles. Under the old territorial divisions of France it was comprised within the province of Picardy, ranking in the second place among the towns of that division, or next to Amiens, (which lies about thirty miles to the south-west of it.) It was also, in early times, the capital of the earldom or county of Ponthieu. It is, at present, included in the department of the Somme; and is built upon the banks of the river which gives that name to the department. Its situation is pleasant, and advantageous for the purposes of commerce; it stands in a fertile valley about four miles broad, and is accessible by the Somme to boats of one hundred tons' burden, at high water, the tide rising six feet.

Abbeville is a fortified town, though not remarkable for strength. Its circuit, exclusive of the fortifications, is nearly three miles and a half (English). It has five gates, near one of which is a charming promenade, planted with trees, by the side of the Somme. The ramparts themselves, "flanked with bastions, and surrounded with broad ditches planted with avenues of trees, form an agreeable promenade, and command a fine view both of the town and the surrounding country."

In its passage through Abbeville, the Somme forms a small island upon which the central portion of the present town stands, the rest of it being distributed along the two banks. Besides this river there are three smaller streams intersecting it; so that upwards of sixty bridges of various sizes are required to keep up the communications between its different parts. Some of the streets are broad; the houses are generally of brick, there being but a few of stone, and some antiquated decayed edifices of wood. In former times, the town was adorned with many fine residences belonging to the neigbouring gentry; "but traces of dilapidation and decay," said an English traveller some years ago," the effect of the Revolution, are everywhere visisible, without any, or hardly any, cheering symptoms of renovation." There are no public buildings deserving of particular notice, except the Hall of Justice, the Town House, and the Collegiate Church,—or Cathedral, as it is sometimes called.

This last edifice, the Collegiate Church of St. Wulfran,-is described as being in the finest style of Gothic architecture; "but the beautiful colossal statues at its front gate were mutilated at the Revolution, and it is so encumbered with houses on every side, that the exterior cannot readily be seen." The portal, however, and the two lofty square towers rising above it, are still objects of attention. The structure was founded by the Counts of Ponthieu in an early age; and like many other ecclesiatical edifices in France, it remains to the present day in an unfinished state. "The interior has nothing striking, "except that which fixes the attention of the English traveller in all Catholic churches,-freedom from organ, pews, and screens."

The manufactures of Abbeville are considerable. Its woollen-cloth manufactory, which was established in 1665, by a Dutchman, named Van Robais, under the patronage of Colbert, the celebrated minister of Louis the Fourteenth, is the most extensive in France; the cloths which are here produced, are said to be little inferior to those of our own country. An extensive trade is also carried on at Abbeville, not only in the articles manufactured there, but in the

agricultural products of the neighbouring country, and especially in corn, a large quantity of which is brought from all quarters of the department, to be embarked on the Somme. The population of Abbeville is now stated at about 19,000; in 1698, it was 17,982,-showing a comparatively small increase.

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Abbeville is not a place of great antiquity. native writer has, indeed, contended that it existed under the name of Britannia two centuries before the Christian era, that it was the chief town of the people called Britanni, in Belgic Gaul, whom he supposes to have given their name to our own island of Britain; but this, as the French antiquary Du Chesne says, is "probably" a prejudice in favour of his native town. In the middle ages, the town is mentioned under the Latin names of Abbatis villa, Abbavilla, and Abacicovilla, which it is said to have derived from its founder, one of the Counts of Ponthieu, who was an abbot. The earldom or county of Ponthieu, of which Abbeville was the capital, obtained its name according to Du Chesne, from the number of ponts or bridges in the fens and marshes which existed in this part of

France.

In the early wars of England and France, the county of Ponthieu, and its capital, the town of Abbeville, were frequently objects of contention. The county passed by marriage to the English crown; and in the year 1329, Edward the Third did homage for it to Philip the Sixth, or Philip of Valois. In 1346, during the war between those Sovereigns, Philip fixed his quarters at Abbeville, just before the battle of Cressy, and built a bridge there for the passage of his army. "He remained there a whole day," says Du Chesne, "to assemble his army, and on the morrow being advised that the English were near, resolved to go and attack them, which he did at the village of Crécy, but with shame and loss *," &c.

By the treaty of Bretigni, which was concluded between Edward the Third and John the Second of France, on the 8th of May, 1360, the king of England acquired the full sovereignty of the earldom Of Ponthieu, among other valuable territories in France; in this cession the town of Abbeville was of course included. In 1364, however, king John died a prisoner in London, having been unable to raise the sum of 3,000,000 crowns of gold,-the amount of his stipulated ransom.

His successor, Charles the Fifth, became speedily embroiled with the Black Prince, who governed Edward's dominions in the South of France; and in 1368, made secret preparations for a fresh war with the king of England, at the same time openly expressing his desire to maintain the peace. His intention was to take Edward by surprise, and to regain possession of the county of Ponthieu by a sudden attack; his measures were accordingly directed, in the first instance, against its capital, the town of Abbeville. He proceeded with great caution; for, as Froissart says:

The French kynge woulde not be knowen of the warr, for thereby he thought he should lose the enterprise that he trusted to have in the Erldome of Ponthieu. For if the kyng of Englande had perfectly knowen that the French kyng woulde have made hym warr, he woulde right well have withstood the domages that he had after in Ponthieu, for he would so well have provyded for the good toune o Abbeville with Englyshmen, and so well have furnyshel all other garysons in the said countie, that he would have been countie was an Englyshman, called Sir Nicholas Lovayng, still soverayne over them. And the seneshall of the same who was in good favour with the kyng of Englande, as he was worthy; for he was so true that to be drawen with wylde horses he would never consent to any shame, cowardesse, or villany

See Saturday Magazine, Vol. VIII., p. 58.

In the following year, 1369, when Charles had | matured his preparations, he determined to commence operations by an attack upon Abbeville; but he still conceived himself bound by the laws of honour to send a defiance," or formal declaration of war, to Edward, although it was his intention not to await the return of his messenger, but to calculate the time of his arrival at the English court, and then to begin at once, Or, again to quote the language of Froissart,

When the Frenche kyng had secrete and certayne knowledge how they within Abbeville would become French, and that the warres were open in Gascony, and howe all his people were ready aparelled and in good wyll to make warr agaynst the prince, and to enter into the principalyte : howbeit he thought as then to have no reproache, nor in tyme to come to be said of hym, that he should send his people into the Kyng of Englande or prince's lande, or to take townes, cyties, castles, or fortresses, without defyance; wherefore he was counselled to send to defy the Kyng of Englande. And so he dyd, by his letters closed, and a Breton varlet bore them.

This proceeding of sending the defiance by a "varlet," is said to have been resorted to, because the Black Prince had arrested the messengers whom Charles had sent to cite him to appear before the French Court of Peers, to answer the complaints which had been lodged against him touching the imposition of several obnoxious taxes in the province of Guienne. The appearance of the "varlet" upon such an errand, in the court of Edward, produced considerable sensation.

The kyng and his counsayle had great despite that a varlet should thus bringe his defyance, and sayd howe it was nothing appertenant that the warre between two such great princes as the kyng of Englande and the Frenche kyng should be published by a varlet: they thought it had been more metely that it should have been done by a prelate, or by some valyant man, baron, or knyght; how beit they sawe there was no remedy. Then they counsayled the kyng that incontynent he shoulde sende a great army into Ponthieu to kepe the frontiers there, and specially to the toune of Abbeville, the which he was in great danger of losing. The kyng was content so to do: and so there was appointed to go thither the Lorde Percy, the Lorde Nevyll, the lorde of Carbesson, and Sir William of Wynsore, with CCC. men, and M. archers. And in the mean season, whyle these lordes made them redy and were come to Dover to passe the sea, there came other tidynges out of Ponthieu, the which were nothing joyfull. For as soon as the Erle Guy of St. Poule, and Sir Hewe of Chastellon who were at then maisters of the Crosbowes of France, thought by all likely hod, that the kyng of Englande was defyed, then they drew towards Ponthieu, and had sent secretly their commandement to the knightes and squires of Artoyse, Heynalt, Cambresis, Vermandose, Vyen, and Picardy, that they should incontynent come to them; and so they dyd to the nombre of six score spears, and came to Abbeville. And they set upon the gates, for it was do determined before, and so the men of warre entered without doyng of any hurt to any of them of the toune. Then Sir Hewe of Chastelon, who was chefe leader of these men of warre, went streyght where as he thought to fynde the Seneschall of Ponthieu, Sir Nicolas Lovayng, and dyd so moche that he founde him, and toke him prisoner. Also they toke a riche clerke and a valyant man, tresourer of Ponthieu; so that day the Frenchmen toke many a riche prisoner, and the Englishmen lost all that they had in the town of Abbeville.

A few miles to the south-west of Abbeville, and on the road between it and Amiens, stands the small town of Pecquigny, which is remarkable in our history as having been the scene of that curious interview between Edward the Fourth and Louis the Eleventh, at which the two sovereigns conferred and ratified a treaty of peace upon a bridge thrown across the Somme, with a strong wooden grating, "such as the lions' cages are made of," between them. The terms of the treaty had been previously arranged by their

ministers at Amiens; and that it might be concluded with due solemnity, it was thought necessary that there should be a meeting between the two monarchs. The celebrated Philip de Comines, who was one of the chief councillors of Louis, gives an interesting account in his Memoirs of the measures taken by his suspicious master to accomplish that object without endangering his safety and exposing his person to fatal risks; for the sad experience of the age had shown that the prevalent notions of honour were not always a safeguard against treachery, and as Louis would scarcely have scrupled to resort to such a villany himself, he was naturally led to guard against it on the part of others.

In order, (says Comines,) to bring the whole affair to a conclusion, they consulted what place was most convenient for the interview of the two kings, and persons were appointed to survey it; the Lord du Bouchage and I were chosen for our master, and the Lord Howard, one Cha. langer, (as the writer calls Sir Anthony St. Leger,) and a Herald for the King of England. Upon our taking a view of the river, we agreed the best and securest place was Picquiny, a strong castle some three leagues from Amiens, belonging to the Vidame of Amiens, which had been burnt not long before by the Duke of Burgundy; the town lies low, the river Somme runs through it, and is not fordable near it. On the one side, by which our king was to come, was a fine champain country, and on the other side it was the same, only when the king of England came to the river he was obliged to pass a causey, about two bow-shots long, with marshes on both sides, which might have been of very dangerous consequence to the English, if our intentions had not been honourable. And certainly as I have said before, the English do not manage their treaties and capitulations with so much cunning and policy as the French do, let people say what they will, but proceed more ingenuously and with greater freedom in their affairs, yet a man must be cautious and have a care not to affront them, for tis dangerous meddling with 'em. After we had fixed upon the place, our next consultation was about a bridge, which was ordered to be built large and strong, to which purpose we furnished our carpenters with materials. In the midst of the bridge there was contrived a strong wooden grate, or lattice, such as the lions' cages are made of, the hole between every bar being no wider than to thrust in a man's rain, and the body of it was big enough to contain ten or arm, the top was covered only with boards to keep off the twelve men of a side, with the bars running cross to both sides of the bridge, to hinder any person from passing over it either to the one side or the other; and in the river there was only one little boat to convey over such as had a mind to cross it.

This method of arranging an interview between two enemies, desirous of becoming friends, was not a novel one. It had been put in practice in 1419, and when the Dauphin of France, (afterwards Charles the Seventh,) and John Duke of Burgundy met on the bridge of Montereau, or Faut-yonne; but upon that occasion the barrier was furnished with a wicket, bolted on both sides, "by means of which, and by consent of both parties, they might pass to either." During the conference, the Duke, at the invitation of the Dauphin, as some say, drew back the bolt upon his side of the wicket, and passed through, when he was immediately attacked and slain, with some of his attendants. Louis, (who was the eldest son and successor of Charles the Seventh,) had not forgotten a deed which fixed so black a stain upon his father's early life, and he therefore desired particularly that in the arrangements for his interview with Edward, "there should be no passage from one side to the other." He related to Comines the story of the Duke of Burgundy's murder, and commanded expressly that there should be no door," for," said he, " if there had not been one then, there had been no occasion of inviting the duke on that side, and that inconvenience (as he styles the murder,) had been prevented," &c.

of archers, with their bows bent, and shafts of arrows by their sides; next followed a party of pikemen in their corslets and helmets; after whom marched a column of halberdiers in their corslets and helmets, and the march was closed by a great party of billmen, with helmets and aprons of mail, and the whole body, consisting of about two thousand men, had between every division a certain number of musicians, who were answered in their proper places by the like number of drums, with standards and ensigns, as veteran troops.

This nocturnal march was illuminated by 940 cressets, 200 whereof were defrayed at the city ex pense, 500 at that of the companies, and 240 by the city constables. When on usual duty, two men were appointed to each cresset, one to carry it, and "another to beare a bag with light and to serve it; so that the poor men pertaining to the cressets, taking wages, besides that every one had a straw-hat, with a badge painted, and his breakfast in the morning. amounted in number to almost 2000." An old poet thus notices these cressets:

I STATED to you in our last description that the mere alterations in the heat of the weather caused the expansion and contraction of metals, and as iron is now so very abundantly used in buildings, the engineer has not only to understand this fact, but also to guard against its effects.

Supposing, for instance, that a large iron bearn was firmly secured at each end, on the tops of two stone piers or columns: it would expand by the heat of a Summer's day, and force the columns out of their upright position: it would contract in the cool of the night, and draw them back again; and such operation going on for months together, the columns, supposing them to be of one stone, would be rendered unsteady; or if of several pieces of stone, the cement would fall away from the joints, and they would fall to pieces..

Now in building iron bridges, this property of the expansion of iron must be guarded against, or otherwise it would greatly damage the stone piers. I believe that it is generally done by allowing a space for the iron to expand, and not bolting it firmly to the masonry; but it is the business of the practical engineer to devise the best means of doing this properly.

You would, at first thought, deem it a bit of pleasantry, if I told you that the iron columns in the Quadrant of Regent-street, London, are taller and larger in a hot than in a cold day; but if you reflect for a moment on what I have said, you will perceive at once that such must be the case, not only with them, but with all other iron or metal columns or bars, exposed to the influence of heat and cold.

If, as in our first experiment, the small bit of copper-wire expanded so much as to be incapable of passing into the gauges, how much greater must be the expansion of a larger mass of metal; but yet it cannot be detected by the eye; it is only to be done by very close and accurate measurement.

Many artisans who construct beautiful and delicate machinery, have to guard against the expansion of metals; the watchmaker in particular has to do this..

If you examine the works of this watch, which is a very common one, you will find that all the wheels have steel pins or axles, and that they work in brass holes. Now what is this done for? Why, in the first place, the extreme strength of a bit of steel renders it fitter for the pin or axle than brass, because the latter is soft, and would bend; but there is another reason, which is this. You have already seen that steel does not expand so much as brass; and therefore when the watch is worn in the pocket, the heat of the body causes both metals to expand; but the steel pin expands less than the brass hole, and therefore the pin has always free motion.

But supposing that the works of the watch were constructed exactly the reverse, that is, with brass pins and steel holes; why, after being worn in the warm pocket for a short time, the watch would stop its movements, because of the brass pins expanding so much more than the steel holes.

Expansion by heat also affects the tone of bells, and the wires of stringed instruments.

Here is a small handbell; remark the shrill tone it produces. I will now heat it over the flame of this reading-lamp, so that it may expand. Now listen; how much less shrill the tone is, because for the time being there is a larger mass vibrating; the original tone returns as the bell cools.

If a pianoforte is tuned in a cold room, it will be out of tune when the room is heated, because some