BOURDEAUX, or BORDEAUX, in the depart ment of the Gironde, and capital of what was for merly the province of Guienne, is one of the most ancient. and flourishing cities in France. It was known by the name of Burdigalia, in the time of the Romans, by whom it seems to have been originally founded, or at least greatly enlarged ; and of whose architectural improvements it still retains many dis tinct vestiges. Besides a number of ancient statues, medals, and inscriptions, which have been found at different periods within its limits, we may mention, as its principal antiquities, a temple dedicated to the tutelary deities of the place, of which some very lofty columns are to be seen; the lower gate, which is sup posed to have been built in the time of Augustus; the palace of Gallienus, of which only two gates and a few walls remain ; and an oval amphitheatre, 227 feet in length, and 140 in breadth. In the fifth cen tury, it was in the possession of the Goths ; and was repeatedly ravaged and burned during the savage in cursions of the Normans. It was afterwards govern ed by sovereigns of its own, who were titled Dukes, Counts, Re.; but by the marriage of Eleanor, only daughter of William the tenth, and last Duke of Guienne, to Louis VII., surnamed the Young, it was united, with its province, to France. This lady, however, having been divorced by the French king, in 1152, and afterwards marrying Henry of Norman dy, who succeeded to the crown of England, Gui enne, with its capital Bourdeaux, became subject to the princes of that country, by whom it was greatly enlarged and beautified. To this city Edward, the Black Prince, conducted his royal captive, John, King of France, after the battle of Poictiers, in 1356 ; made it the seat of his court for the space of eleven years ; and raised it to a high degree of splen dour and renown. After having been nearly three centuries in the possession of the English, it was re united to France by Charles VII., who established a parliament in the place, and built the Chateau Trom pette, to defend the mouth of the harbour. In the year 1548, a violent insurrection was excited through out the whole province, by the gi ievance of a salt tax ; and, in the heat of their resentment, the inhabi tants of Bourdeaux seized and massacred the king's lieutenant M. de Alonems, together with one of his friends who attempted his rescue. The constable Montmorency was dispatched with a body of troops, to suppress these tumultuous proceedings ; but though the inhabitants of Bourdeaux submissively opened their gates to receive him, he refused to enter their city, except through a breach in the wall ; post ed his soldiers with artillery at the entrance of every street, and treated it in every respect as a town taken by storm. He declared its privileges to be forfeited ; seized its bells and records ; condemned to death 100 substantial tradesmen ; imposed a fine of 2000 livres ; suspended the parliament from the exercise of its functions; compelled the magistrates, with 100 of the principal citizens, to dig the body of 1\Ionems out of his grave with their fingers, that it might be solemnly interred in the church of St Andrews ; com manded the town house to be thrown clown, and a chapel to be erected in its place, where public pray ers should annually be offered for the soul of the murdered governor. Bourdeaux suffered very severe ly during the civil wars in France, in the time of Henry IV.; but was preserved for the crown by the good conduct of Marshall Matignon, in opposition to all the powers of the League.
The town is situated on the west bank of the Ga ronne, abaut 40 miles from its mouth, and where the river is between 300 and 400 toises in breadth. The tide flows, as far as the city, to the height of twelve feet, so as to be navigable for vessels of a considera ble burden. The harbour is large and commodious ; and the quay, which borders the river, is of very great extent, but neither kept in good repair, nor built with any degree of regularity or magnificence. Indeed, the vessels cannot be brought close to the pavement, but require to be loaded and unloaded by the help of barges. It appears, from the following lines of Ausonius, that the town was formerly of a quadrangular form— quadrea mitrornm species, sic turribus altis Ardua, ut aerias intrent fastigia nubes; but its modern appearance is that of a crescent or se micircle, of which the river forms the side. It is sur rounded by an old wall, with twelve gates, and three forts; but the ramparts are in a ruinous condition, and all its means of defence are of very little import ance. The streets chiefly run towards the harbour, and are in general narrow and inelegant; hut since the end of the American war, the place has under gone great improvements, and many new streets have been built, both in the city and suburbs, in a hand some style, and on a regular plan. The Chateau Trompette, which was built by Charles VII., and afterwards regularly fortified by the celebrated Vau ban in the reign of Louis X1V., and which occupied nearly half a mile of the shore, was purchased from the late king by a company of speculators, for the purpose of being taken down, in order to build with the materials a fine square, and several splendid sti cets, to the number ol 1800 houses ; but this plan, which, it has been said, would form one of the finest addi tions to a city that is to be seen in Europe, has not yet been completed. The finest parts of the city are the Place Royale, where the hackney coaches have their stand, and where there is an equestrian statue in bronze of Louis XV.; the quarter of the Chapeau
Rouge, which consists of noble and regular buildings, and the suburb of Chaltron, where the principal mer chants reside. Bourdeaux contains an academy of belles lettres, of painting, of sculpture, of architec ture, of commerce ; an university, founded in 1441 ; thirteen parish churches; a number of religious houses ; and several magnificent public buildings. The principal of these are the churches of the Domi nicans, Carthusians, and Monks of St Bernard ; in which last is the tomb of Montaigne, who was born, lived, and died, at the castle of Brede, in the neigh bourhood of Bourdeaux ; the cathedral, which con tains two remarkable bas reliefs, deserving of the tra veller's inspection ; the exchange, from which is the finest view of the harbour and the country on the opposite shore, furnishing one of the richest water scenes of which France can boast ; and the theatre, which is one of the most magnificent in Europe, in the shape of the segment of an oval, occupying a space of 306 by 165 feet, with the principal front at one end, where there is a portico of twelve very large Corinthian columns running along the whole extent of the front, from which portico is the entrance, by a noble vestibule, to the different parts of the theatre, to an elegant concert room, and to various saloons for walking and refreshments ; and the whole of which building was raised at the expence of 270,000/. There is a new tide corn mill, which is remarkable for its size, the solidity of the building, and the beau ty of the workmanship. There is a large canal form ed of hewn stone, with walls four feet in thickness, which leads under the building, and admits the tide, as it conies in, to turn the water wheels ; and there are several other equally well built canals, which con duct the water into a large reservoir, from which it flows back, as the tide returns, and gives motion to the wheels in an opposite direction. This immense structure was erected by a company ; and the cost was estimated at 350,000/. The whole of the houses, and public buildings of Bourdeaux, are built of a white stone, which adds greatly to the splendour of their appearance. The habitations and establish ments of the principal merchants are upon a very ex pensive scale; and their mode of living is luxurious and dissipated in the extreme. The three chief ar ticles of commerce in this city are, the cod and whale fisheries ; the fitting out of armaments, and fur nishing of stores for the French American settle ments, for which it must at present have very little demand ; and the disposal of its brandy, wines, li queurs, especially the vin de Bourdeaux, generally known by the name of claret, and produced in the neighbouring country, called Pays de Illedoc. It ex ports also fruits, resin, pepper, honey, cork, &c. and vsticularly vinegar to the amount 01 five or six thou sand tuns annually, &e.; and manufactures serge, printed calicoes, stockings, delf-ware, white glass, and cordage. Its wines particularly are an incalcula ble source of wealth to the Inhabitants. It is calcu lated, that, in the district of Bourdeaux, there are produced, communibzis annis, 200,000 tons of wine ; of which 100,000 are exported, 40,000 consumed in the town and its vicinity, and the remaining 60,000 in the territories of France. The quantity ol brandy is more variable ; sometimes amounting to 20,000 hogs heads annually, and at other times only to 12,000 or 15,000. Among the principal produetions ol flour deaux may be mentioned the article hemp, of which, within a space of 12 or 15 leagues round the town, about 20,000 or 25,000 quintals arc raised every year, part of which is exported to Rochefort, Rochelle, and Bayonne ; and the' rest is employed at Bour deaux, in manufactories of linen or cordage. Its re fined sugars arc accounted the best in France in point of quality ; and possess a firmness and consistency, which render them peculiarly suitable for exporta tion. The great track of Bourdeaux, especially in wines and brandy, attracts an immense number of fo reign vessels, so that there are commonly about 100 in the harbour at once, and sometimes during its fairs not less than 500. The greater number of these are from Holland and Great Britain ; and those be longing to the latter power, besides taking wines to the amount of 6000 tons, and brandies to the amount of 400 hogsheads, annually, carry away, vinegar, prunes, raisins, turpentine, Chesnut, paper, corkwood, honey, capers, olives, and anchovies, in exchange for woollen stuffs, tin, lead, coals, herring, leather, but ter, cheese, salt beef, tallow and painting materials. It has two great fairs in the year, which were finally established by Charles IX. in 1565, and each of which lasts about 15 days; but the resort to these free markets, and its commercial prosperity in gene ral, are said to have greatly declined since the revolu tion. It contains about 100,000 inhabitants ; is dis tant from Paris 89 deagues, and from Rochelle 27 ; and stands in N. Lat. 44° 50', and NV. Long. 0° 39'. It has produced several great men ; by one of whom, the poet Ausonius, it is celebrated in these lines, Burdigalia, est natale solum ; dementia coeli Alitis, ubi et 'tux larga indulgentia terra:, e'er longum, brumze que breves, juga •ondea subsunt, See Arthur Young's Travels in France. (9)