COMPIEGNE, a town of France, at the head of an arrondissement, in the department of Oise, situated on the left bank of the Oise, which is there crossed by a handsome bridge of three arches, 36 miles east of Beauvais, on the railway between Paris and St Quentin, in 49° 25' 4" N. lat. and 2° 49' 35" E. long. It is famous as the occasional residence of the French kings from a very early period; and it possesses a considerable number of fine edifices. Among these may be mentioned the church of St Jacques, of the 13th century; Saint Antoine, of the 15th and 16th; the town house, a picturesque building of the late Gothic style, dating from the 16th; the theatre; and the royal palace, which is one of the most extensive and magnificent structures of the kind in France. It was erected mainly under Louis XV. and XVI., but large additions have been made in more recent times. The gardens are beautifully laid out, and in the neighbourhood is the famous forest of Compiègne, which covers an area of 30,000 acres, and includes the site of the camp constructed by Caesar in his campaign against the Bellovaci. The town is the seat of a civil and a. commercial tribunal, and has a communal college, a public library, and a museum in the town-hall. The principal manufactures are hosiery, muslins, ropes, and wooden wares; and there is a fair trade in corn and wood. Population in 1872, 11,859 in the town, and 12,281 in the commune....