co-Prussian war, Metz, with Strasburg, has become
transformed; but its ancient monuments still exist to charm and gratify
the antiquarian. Indeed, it was as recently as 1900 that the Tour des
Lennyers, a wonderful structure of Roman times, was discovered.

Metz was fortified as early as in the third century, and to-day its
walls and moats, though modern,--the work of Vauban,--are still wonders
of their kind.

In the Roman period the city was of great importance. In the fifth
century it was attacked, taken, and destroyed by the Huns; but, when it
was rebuilt and became the capital of Austrasia, its prosperity grew
rapidly. In 1552 the Due de Montmorenci made himself master of the city,
and some months later Henri II. made his _entree_. During the winter of
the same year it successfully resisted Charles V., thanks to Francois de
Lorraine and the Duc de Guise.

The great abbey of St. Arnulphe disappeared at this time. It stood on
the site of the present railroad station, where, in 1902, were found
many fragments of religious sculptures, coming presumably from the old
abbey.

In 1556-62 the citadel was constructed by Marechal Vielleville. Within
the citadel was the old church of St. Pierre, one of those minor works
of great beauty which are often overlooked when summing up the treasures
of a cathedral town. The old church dated originally from the seventh
century, though reconstructed anew in the tenth, and again in the
fifteenth century.

The walls of the surrounding fortifications are of incontestable
antiquity. Beneath the pavement of the chapel have recently been found
fragments of sculptured stone dating from Merovingian times.

It was during a dangerous illness at Metz that Louis XV. is said to have
made the vow which led to the erection of that pagan-looking structure,
the church of Sainte Genevieve, more commonly known as the Pantheon, at
Paris. It is the largest modern church in France, if, indeed, one can
really consider it to-day as a church.

Metz, before its annexation by Germany, was as French as Reims or
Troyes. Many of the natives of the city have since left, but they have
been replaced by Germans, so the population has not suffered in numbers.

Of a population of forty-five thousand, there are twenty-four thousand
soldiers. Hotels, shops, and cafes have become Germanized, but,
curiously enough, many, if not nearly all, of the cab-drivers speak
French, and French money passes current everywhere.