NANCY (Fr. non-se), France, the capital of ancient Lorraine, of the former department of Meurthe and since 1872 of the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, situated in a fertile plain, near the left bank of the Meurthe, 218 miles east of Paris, on the railway to Strassburg. It is divided into the old and the new town, has extensive suburbs and is strongly defended by isolated "forts d'arret.P The old town is irregularly built, with streets narrow and wind ing; but has several fine public buildings. The new town has straight and spacious streets, in tersecting each other at right angles, and trav ersed by tramways; the houses, almost with out exception, are handsome. The Place Stan islas, surrounded by several fine public build ings, and communicating, by a triumphal arch, with the Place Carriere, has a fine statue of Stanislas Lesczynski, king of Poland, who passed the latter years of his life here as Duke of Lorraine and bestowed upon the town many of its finest modern embellishments. There are statues also to General Drouot, Thiers and other notabilities. The Cours Leopold, occupy ing the highest part of the town, and finely planted, is the principal promenade; another is the Pepiniere, a large planted area. Among the chief edifices are the cathedral, a modern structure in the Italian style; the church of Saint Epvre, with a lofty tower and a fine portal, one of the finest specimens of modern Gothic in France; the church of the Cordeliers, built in 1484, and containing the tombs of sev eral dukes of Lorraine; the 19th century churches of Saint Peter, Saint Vincent and Saint Leon ; Hotel de Ville (17th century); ducal palace, an elegant specimen of flam boyant Gothic, with a fine porch (16th cen tury) ; public library; seven handsome gates or triumphal arches. Nancy is the see of a bishop
and the headquarters of the 20th Army corps. At the head of its educational institutions is the celebrated university founded at Pont-a Mousson in 1572 and removed to Nancy in 1768; it has faculties of law, philosophy, natural science, mathematics, medicine and a school of pharmacy; Nancy also has a lyceum, a botanical garden, a school of forestry, a theological semi nary, etc. The manufactures consist of broad cloth and other woolen stuffs; cotton and cot ton yarn, hosiery, lace, all kinds of embroidery, stained paper, tobacco, etc. There are also iron-works, dye-works, breweries and tanneries. In a battle fought under its walls, the Duke of Burgundy (Charles the Bold) was defeated and slain by Rene II, Duke of Lorraine, in 1477. On 12 Aug. 1870 it surrendered to the Ger mans, by whom it was occupied until 1 Aug. 1873. The population was largely increased by the influx of Alsatians after the annexation of Alsace to Germany. During the great Euro pean War, Nancy was a centre of great mili tary activity. Under the personal command of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who arranged to make a triumphal entry in the ancient Lorraine capital, beginning 6 Jan. 1916 with a bombardment by 15-inch guns at a distance of 16 miles, the Germans unsuccessfully besieged the city for several days. (See WAR, EUROPEAN. Pop. about 120,000.