But even when speaking of the city rebuilt by the Ming emperors it is necessary to use the past tense. The Taiping rebels, who carried the town by assault in 1853, made a clean sweep of all the national monuments and most of the more conspicuous public buildings it contained, and destroyed or were the means of destroying the greater part of the magnificent wall which surrounded it. The following description, therefore, must be understood as referring to the town as it existed before it was invaded by those ruthless destroyers.
The city is said by Chinese topographers to have been surrounded by a wall measuring 96 le, or 32 miles, in circumference. This computation has, however, been shown by more accurate calculation to be a gross exaggeration, and it is probable that 60 le, or 20 miles, would be nearer the actual dimensions. The wall, of which only small portions now remain, was about 70 feet in height, measured 30 feet in thickness at the base, and was pierced by thirteen gates. Encircling the north, east, and south sides of the city proper was a second wall which enclosed about double the space of the inner enclosure. The public buildings were on a scale befitting one of the foremost cities in the empire, which was and still is the permanent seat of the provincial government, and which for a time was the abode of the imperial court. The inner city, which is nominally inhabited by the Manchu garrison only, is crossed from north to south by four main thoroughfares, which are intersected by roads connecting the gates in the eastern and western walls. In the north-east corner of the town stood the imperial palace reared by Hung-woo, the imperial founder of the modern city. After suffering mutilation at the time of the overthrow of the Ming dynasty, this magnificent building was finally burnt to the ground on the recapture of the city from the Taiping rebels in 1864. But beyond comparison the most conspicuous public building at Nanking was the famous porcelain tower, which was designed by the emperor Yung-lo (1403–28) to commemorate the virtues of his mother. Twelve centuries previously an Indian priest deposited on the spot where this monument afterwards stood a relic of Buddha, and raised over the sacred object a small pagoda of three stories in height. During the disturbed times which heralded the close of the Yuen dynasty (1368) this pagoda shared the fate of the surrounding buildings, and was utterly destroyed. It was doubtless out of respect to the relic which then perished that Yung-lo chose this site for the erection of his “token-of-gratitude” pagoda. At noon on the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the tenth year of the reign of this monarch (1413) the building was begun. But before it was finished Yung-lo had passed away, and it was reserved for his successor to see the final pinnacle fixed in its place, after nineteen years had been consumed in carrying out the designs of the imperial architect. In shape the pagoda was an octagon, and was about 260 feet in height, or, as the Chinese say, with that extraordinary love for inaccurate accuracy which is peculiar to them, 32 chang (a chang equals about 120 inches) 9 feet 4 inches and of an inch. The outer walls were cased with bricks of the finest white porcelain, and each of the nine stories into which the building was divided was marked by overhanging eaves composed of green glazed tiles of the same material. The summit was crowned with a gilt ball fixed on the top of an iron rod, which in its turn was encircled by nine iron rings. Hung on chains which stretched from this apex to the eaves of the roof were five large pearls of good augury for the safety of the city. One was supposed to avert floods, another to prevent fire, a third to keep dust-storms at a distance, a fourth to allay tempests, and a fifth to guard the city against disturbances. From the eaves of the several stories there hung one hundred and fifty-two bells, and countless lanterns adorned the same coignes of vantage. The strange form and beauty of the edifice, which might have been expected to have preserved it from destruction, were, however, no arguments in its favour in the eyes of the Taiping rebels, who razed it to the ground when they made themselves masters of Nanking.
Nanking is about 194 geographical miles to the west of Shanghai, and is nearly equidistant between Canton and Peking. It is situated on the south bank of the Yang-tsze Keang, and has a population of 400,000 souls. In bygone days it was one of the chief literary centres of the empire, besides being famous for its manufacturing industries. Satin, crape, nankeen cloth, paper, pottery, and artificial flowers were among its chief products. Of late years, however, these peaceful industries have been superseded by the production of all kinds of warlike material. As at Fuh-chow, the arsenal at Nanking is superintended by Europeans, under whose guidance steamships of war and cannon of the newest and most approved type are there manufactured. In the history of the political relations of England with China, Nanking principally figures as the city where, after its capture by British ships in 1842, Sir Henry Pottinger signed the "Nanking treaty."
NANTES, a city of France, chief town of the department of Loire-Inferieure, is situated on the right bank of the Loire, 35 miles above its mouth, in 47 13 N. lat. and 1 33 W. long. In population (117,555 inhabitants in 1881) it is the first city of Brittany. At Nantes the Loire receives on the left hand the Sevre Nantaise, and on the right the Erdre, which forms the outlet of the canal between Nantes and Brest; and a large number of bridges spanning the various branches of the different streams join the several quarters of the city. Along the left bank of the Loire stretches an ever-extending line of factories and shipbuilding yards. In all there are 6 miles of quays, 2-J miles traversing the city in its greatest breadth from east to west along the main river. The Environs of Nantes. largest vessels at present come no farther than St Nazaire, but a canal is being made on the left bank which will allow vessels drawing 16 feet to come up to the city. Nantes lies 264 miles west-south-west of Paris by the Angers and Le Mans Railway, and 40 miles from St Nazaire. Other lines connect it with Rennes via Chateaubriant, La Roche-sur-Yon, Paimboeuf, and Pornic. The cathedral of Nantes, commenced in 1 434 in the Gothic style, is still unfinished. Its length will be, when completed, 335 feet, and the nave is 85 feet wide and 123 feet in height. The towers are 205 feet high. There are two interesting monuments in the transept, on the right Michel Colomb s tomb of Francis II., duke of Brittany, and his second wife Marguerite de Foix (1507), and on the left that of General Lamoriciere by Paul Dubois. The former consists of a white marble base covered by a black marble slab on which rest the two effigies, the four corners being occupied by upright figures of Justice, Fortitude, Temperance, and Prudence. Of the other churches the more interesting are St Nicolas, a modern building in the style of the 13th century, Ste Croix, which occupies the site of an old pagan temple, and St Jacques on the left bank of the Loire. Between the cathedral and the Loire, from which it is separated only by the breadth of the quay, stands the castle of Nantes, founded in the 9th or 10th century. Re built by Francis II. and the duchess Anne, it was flanked by Mercoeur in the time of the League with huge bastions decorated with the Lorraine cross. From beincr the resi-
