FIGEAC, a town of France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Lot, is situated on the right bank of the Selle, 32 miles N.E. of Cahors. It is inclosed by an amphitheatre of wooded and vine-clad hills, but is ill-built, and its streets are narrow and dirty. Many of the buildings are remarkable for their antique style. It was formerly surrounded by ramparts and ditches, but these were demolished in 1622, though remains of them still exist. Figeac has linen and cotton manufactures, dyeworks, and tanneries, and also a considerable trade in cattle and wine. Among the public edifices worthy of notice are the communal college, the hospital, the abbey church of St Sauveur, the church of Notre Dame du Puy, and the Château de la Baleine, now transformed into a law court, but still retaining its feudal exterior. ’ At the south and west extremities of the town are two obelisks called les aiguilles, octagonal in form, and upwards of 50 feet in height, which were used in former times as fire beacons to guide travellers by night. Champollion the archaeologist was born at Figeac in 1790, and an obelisk has been erected to his memory near the river. The town owes its origin to a Benedictine abbey founded by Pepin the Short in 755. It was besieged by the Huguenots in 1568 without success, but was conquered by them in 1576, and remained one of their chief fortresses till 1622. The population in 1876 was 5660.