4. In the fourth arrondissement the chief town is : popu lation, 6543 in the commune. It is agreeably situated in the pleasant valley of the Loir, 25 miles S. by W. from Le-Mans. It consists of three principal streets, two of them parallel to each other running through the town for the distance of about half a mile, and thekhird at right angles to them ; together with a few smaller streets or lanes. Tha two parallel streets are straight, wide, well-built, and well paved ; one of them is partly lined by the extensive buildings of the military school. The principal public buildings are the town-hall, the parish church, and the military school just named. This school occupies a royal palace built by Henri IV., and afterward. bestowed by him on the Jesuit. for a college. On the suppression of the Jesuits, in 1762, it was converted by Louis XV. into a military school ; and after being suppressed at the revolution, was revived by Louis XVIIL Prince Eugene, Descartes, and the astronomer Picard were educated here while the Jesuits had the place. The buildings are arranged round five courts; the principal of which, with its adjacent garden, ia-vary handsome. The principal gateway Is adorned with sculptured orna ments and a bust of Henri IV. There is also a large park, which is embellished by the running water brought from a distance of two or three miles for the supply of the building. There is a handsome chapel in the institution, a library of 25,000 volumes, and a gallery of paintings. The town has a theatre and two public, bathing establish ments. The trade of La-Fleche consists chiefly of corn, hay, wine, poultry, and pm*. Linen, hosiery, gloves, leather. and glue are manufactured. Le-Lude, population 3295, on the left bauk of the Loir, 12 miles S.E. from La-Floche, consists of well-built houses, but the streets are very irregularly laid out It is commanded by an ancient male, whose massive quadrangular walls, situated on an eminence overlooking the Loir, and flanked by enormous round towers, one of them In ruins, present a striking appearance. The inhabitants
trade in leather, and cattle. Petard/oil% population 2019, 14 miles E. from La-Fleche, near the Lone, has some trade In cattle and swine. An obelisk marks the spot near the town on which Bernard Dugueselln defeated the English in 1369. Sable, population 4348, on the Sarthe, 16 miles N.W. from La-Fleche, was anciently a place of strength, but its fortification. have been entirely demolished. Tho streets are narrow and crooked ; there is a email but pleasant boulevard raised like a terrace along the bank of the Sarthe, which forms a semi circular bend round the town. There is a bridge over the river, built of marble quarried near the town, which, though in its rough state of a slate colour, becomes of a deep black with veins of white when polished. There is a handsome mansion on a bill above the town, built in the beginning of the last century, by Mansard, for the brother of Colbert, on the site of an ancient castle of the dukes of Maine. A considerable manufacture of gloves Is carried on; and there is a good trade In corn, fruit, and the marble quarried near the town.
This department, with that of Mayenne, constitutes the diocese of Le-Mans, the bishop of which is a suffragan of the archbishop of Tours. It is in tho jurisdiction of the Imperial Court Royale of Angers, and within tho limits of the University-Academy of Caen, and in the 18th Military Division, the head.quarters of which are at Tours. It sends four members to the Legudativo Chamber of the empire.