VENDOME, a town of France, chief-lieu of an arrondissement in the department of Loir-et-Cher, is situated on the river Loir, 109 miles soutli-west of Paris by the railway to Tours, at the junction of the line from Blois to Le Mans. The abbey of the Trinity (12th to 15th century) has a fine portal in florid Gothic style. A graceful balustrade runs round the building at the spring of the roof, and two rows of flying buttresses, themselves resting on other elegant buttresses, support the nave. The high gallery of the triforium, the rich traceries of the windows, and the modern fonts are worthy of notice. Part of the building is in the Angevin style of the beginning of the 13th century. In the choir are some fine stalls and glass of the 15th and 16th centuries. The steeple, 262 feet high, which stands isolated in front of the church, belongs to the middle of the 12th century, and is one of the finest examples of Transition architecture. The lower part is rectangular and the upper octagonal, with a stone spire. It has been recently restored. The church of La Madeleine (15th century) is surmounted by a stone spire, an indifferent imitation of that of the abbey. The fine tower of St Martin (16th century) is all that remains of the church of that name. The town-hall occupies the old gate of St George; its river front is composed of two large crenellated and machicolated towers, connected by a pavilion. The ancient hospital of St James afterwards became a college of the Oratorians, in which Mascaron was a professor, but is now a lyceum; the charming chapel, dating from the 15th century, in the most florid Gothic style, is still preserved. Parts of the chateau of the counts of Vendome are as old as the 11th century. A public promenade leads to the curious vaults under the castle. ...