At the demolition of the old fortifications, the Paris gate, a triumphal arch erected in 1682 in honour of Louis XIV., after the conquest of Flanders, was preserved, as also the Ghent and Roubaix gates, which date from the time of the Spanish domination, and are built in the Renaissance style, with bricks of different colours. The present rampart is pierced by eleven gates, besides a special gate for the railway, and two water gates for the canal of the Deule. The goods station has also its special outlet, and a line from it, after making the round of the new quarters, passes within the enceinte to the quays of the river. Crossing the bridges which span the different arms of the Deule, we reach the citadel, the glacis of which; planted with trees, form a public walk. Within the citadel are extensive barracks and a considerable arsenal. The church of Notre Dame de la Treille, in the style of the 13th century, which has been in process of building since 1855, occupies the site of the old Château du Buc, the original nucleus of the city. The town-house, on the site of the old palace of the duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, was built in 1846. The exchange, which dates from the period of the Spanish domination, is in an original style. It is surmounted by a graceful campanile, and contains a statue of Napoleon I., made from cannon taken at Austerlitz. In the middle of the great square stands a column, erected in 1848, commemorating the defence of the town in 1792. There are several large hospitals, faculties of medicine and of science, a Catholic institute, comprising the five faculties of theology, letters, law, science, and medicine, an academy of music affiliated to the Conservatoire at Paris, several learned societies, and a large number of various kinds of schools. The picture gallery, with upwards of eight hundred works, is one of the richest in the provinces, and the Wicar museum contains a unique collection of original designs of the great Italian masters. Lille possesses also an ethnographical museum (Musée Moillet), as well as museums of archaeo-lsgy, numismatics, the industrial arts, and natural history. The communal library is also worthy of mention; it includes numerous MSS., and particularly a valuable Evangeliariwn of the 12th or 13th century. On the front of the building where the departmental archives are kept are to be seen medallions of all the sovereigns who have successively possessed Lille from Baldwin of the Iron Arm to Louis XIV. Lille, which is pre-eminently a manufacturing and commercial town, enjoys exceptional advantages as regards means of transit. The lower Deule is canalized to its junction with the Lys, and there is continuous water communication with the Scheldt in Belgium, and with Paris by way of Douai and St Quentin. The town is at the same time an important railway junction, and is also provided with tramways.

The principal industry is flax-spinning, in which thirty-five mills, with 190,000 spindles, give employment to 14,000 persons (of whom 9000 are females), the annual turnover being £1,800,000. Forty thread mills employ 2000 persons, and produce thread to the annual value of £240,000. Fifteen factories, with 1000 operatives, produce woollen goods worth from £120,000 to £160,000 per annum; 5000 persons are engaged in cotton-spinning (115,000 spindles), to the amount of £800,000. There are besides eighty factories in which damasks, tickings, and the usual staples of the linen trade are manufactured; quilts and packsheets occupy from 6000 to 7000 persons, and 4000 are employed in producing the fabric out of which the smock frocks of the peasantry are made. Connected with these industries are dye-works, bleachfields, and establishments for the production of engines, looms, and combing and carding machines; and there are also chemical works, sugar-works, breweries, and oil-works. The state manufacture of tobacco in Lille gives employment to 1200 persons. The total population of Lille in 1876 was 162,775.

Lille is said, to date its origin from the time of Count Baldwin IV., who in 1030 surrounded, with walls a little town.which had arisen around the castle of Buc. At the end of the 12th century Lille, which had developed rapidly, obtained communal privileges. Destroyed by Philip Augustus in 1212, it was rebuilt by Johanna of Constantinople, but besieged and retaken by Philip the Fair in 1297. After having taken part with the Flemings against the king of France, it was ceded to the latter in 1312. In 1369 Charles V. gave it to Louis de Male, who transmitted his rights to his daughter

Margaret, wife of Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy. Under the Burgundian rule Lille enjoyed great prosperity; its merchants were at the head of the London Hansa. Philip the Good made it his residence, and within its walls held the first chapters of the order of the Golden Fleece. With the rest of Flanders it passed from the dukes of Burgundy to Austria, and then to Spain. After the death of the Philip IV. of Spain, Louis XIV. reclaimed the territory, and besieged Lille in 1667. He forced it to capitulate, but preserved all its laws, customs, privileges, freedoms, and liberties. In 1708, after an heroic resistance, it surrendered to Prince Eugene and the duke of Marlborough. The treaty of Utrecht restored it to France. In 1792 the Austrians bombarded it for nine days and nights without intermission, but had ultimately to raise the siege.