Varzy. Clamecy.
Junction with branch to La Roche, 108 m. N. on the direct line between Paris and Turin (see [p. 14]). On this branch line, 8¾ m. N. from Nevers, is Guerigny, pop. 3050, on the Nièvre, with the important ironworks called the Forges de la Chaussade, employing upwards of 1300 men. 24¼ m. farther by the same line is [Varzy], pop. 2890; Inn: H. de la Poste; with a very beautiful church, St. Père, 13th and 14th cents., surmounted by two square towers. In the interior are an elegant triforium and a beautiful Flemish painting (1535) of the Martyrdom of St. Eugenie. 44 m. S. from La Roche and 64 m. N. from Nevers is [Clamecy], pop. 5400 ([p. 15]); Inns: Boule d’Or; Univers; *Poste; on the junction of the Yonne with the Beuvron. On
the bridge across the Yonne is a bronze bust by David of Jean Rouvet, the inventor of those large rafts by which the wood from the forests is floated down to Paris and other parts. In the church of St. Martin, 12th to 15th cent., are a statue of Ste. Geneviève by Simart, a handsome organ-case of the 16th cent., and a beautiful reredos on the high altar. Under the markets are the vaults of the old castle of the Dukes of Nevers. The Palais de Justice, the gendarmerie, and the prison occupy one large building.
22 m. N. from Clamecy is [Cravant] (p. 14), an important railway junction. Junction also at Nevers with line to [Chagny], 178 m. E. (see p. 24). Branch to Le Creusot and [Autun] (see p. 24).
Saincaize. Moulins.
PARIS 154 [SAINCAIZE], 600 ft. above sea; junction with line to Bourges, 38 m. W. (See Black’s South France, West Half.)
MARSEILLES 195 335 [MOULINS], pop. 22,000. Hotels: At the station, H. du Chemin de Fer; in. the town, Dauphin, Paris, France, Allier. Omnibuses at the station. A cheerful town with extensive boulevards and pleasant walks along the banks of the Allier, crossed by a bridge built in 1763, of 13 arches, and 328 yards long. In the centre of the town is the Cathedral of Notre Dame, in the transition florid style of the 15th cent. The façade, over which rise two handsome spires, is of white sandstone, with colonnettes of dark Volvic lava. The tops of the buttresses are adorned with statues. The choir, which is seven steps higher than the nave, is lighted by windows containing valuable 16th cent. glass, and covered with a curious roof. In the chapel to the right of the altar is a small mausoleum with a recumbent figure illustrating the condition of even the fairest forms after death. Under the altar, in a little crypt, is an Entombment. In the first chapel, N. side of the choir, is an “Adoration of the Virgin” of considerable merit. Opposite the main entrance is a large square tower called “La tour mal coiffée,” 15th cent., now a prison, which, with the handsome portico of the Gendarmerie, formed part of the famous castle of the Dukes of Bourbon. The most interesting old houses are within and around the Place de l’Allier. In that square is also the church of St. Nicolas, built in the style of the 13th cent. In the chapel of the Lycée, No. 15 Rue de Paris, a little beyond the Palais de Justice, is the marble mausoleum, by Coustou, Anguier, Renaudan and Poipant, of Henri II., Duc de Montmorenci, godson of Henri IV., and one of the bravest marshals of France. He had the misfortune to draw upon himself the enmity of Cardinal Richelieu and the displeasure of Louis XIII., which
led to his execution in the Capitole of Toulouse on the 30th October 1632, where the knife is still preserved. His widow, Maria Orsini, caused his body to be brought to this chapel, then belonging to the convent of the nuns “de la Visitation.” The statues, all of the finest Carrara marble, represent the duke in a half-recumbent posture and the duchess seated near him. Fee, ½ fr. In the Hôtel de Ville is the public library, with 25,000 vols. and a manuscript Bible of the 12th cent, called the Souvigny Bible. The town clock, with its moving statues, is mounted on a square tower, 15th cent., 40 ft. high.
[ Duke of Berwick. Sterne’s Maria.]
Lord Clarendon, while on his way from Montpellier to Rouen, stayed some time at Moulins, where he wrote a part of his History of the Rebellion, which he finished while resident in Rouen, where he died on the 9th of December 1674, after having appealed twice in vain to Charles II. to be allowed to return to England. James Fitz-James, Duke of Berwick, a marshal and peer of France, natural son of James Duke of York, afterwards James II., by Arabella Churchill, sister of the great Duke of Marlborough, was born at Moulins on the 21st of August 1670, and died 12th June 1734. Montesquieu said of him: “In the works of Plutarch I have seen at a distance what great men were; in Marshal Berwick I have seen what they are.” [By the side] of the Paris road, under a tree at the northern entrance into Moulins, the forlorn Maria, with her lute and her dog Sylvie, used to sit. Thwarted in love by the intrigues of the parish curate, she became the prey to a deep-seated melancholy. (See Sterne’s Sentimental Journey, “Maria.”)