a province of France, including the several districts of Orleanois-Proper, Beauce-Proper or Chartrain, Dunois, Vendomois, Blaisois, the greatest part of Gatinois, and Perche-Gouet. The principal rivers of it are the Loire, the Loiret, the Cher, the Laconie, the Aigle, the Hyere, the Yonne, and the Evre. There are also some remarkable canals, particularly those of Briare and Orleans. The river Loire, and the canals drawn from thence, greatly facilitate and promote the inland trade of the kingdom; and particularly of this government, which lies entirely within the jurisdiction of the parliament of Paris; and, besides the chief governor, has several subordinate ones.

Orleanois, in Latin Aurelianensis Ager, is bounded on the south by Sologne, on the north by Upper-Orleans, on the east by Gatinois, and on the west by Dunois and Vendomois. The Loire divides it into Upper and Lower; the former lying to the north, and the latter to the south of that river. It yields plenty of grain, wine, wood, and fruit, and abounds in cattle, game, and fish. The principal places in it are, Orleans, from which it derives its name, and is the capital, not only of it, but of the whole government. It was anciently called Genabum or Genabum, and afterwards Aurelia, Aurelie, and Aureliani; and stands 20 leagues from Paris to the south, on the northern bank of the Loire, over which there is here a fine stone bridge of 16 arches, leading into a suburb on the south side of the river. In Julius Caesar's time it was the capital of the Carnutes. Aurelian, the emperor, enlarged it, and gave it his name. It is one of the largest cities in the king; but meanly built, and most of the inhabitants are poor; though there are here several inferior courts of justice, with an university, at present in no great repute; a public library; a stately Gothic cathedral, and a great number of other churches, some of which are collegiate; a public walk, planted with several rows of trees; some sugar-bakers; a manufacture of stockings and sheep-skins; a seminary, in which divinity is taught; and a great trade in brandy, wine, spices, and several manufactures, which, with many other commodities, are conveyed from hence to Paris, and other places, by means of the Loire, and the canal which takes its name from the city. Some of the trading people are very rich. The canal begins about two miles above the city; is near 18 leagues in length; and terminates on the Loing, which falls into the Seine. To the north of the city is a forest, the largest in the whole kingdom, belonging to the duke of Orleans; to whom the timber felled in it brings in, one year with another, about 100,000 livres. Ever since the year 1344, this city has been a dukedom and peerage, and usually an appanage of some prince of the blood. Lewis XIV. gave it to his brother Phillips; who begun and finished the canal, in whose family it still continues. The duties paid by vessels going up and down the canal, amount, in some years, to 150,000 livres. The bishop of this city is suffragan to the archbishop of Paris, and has a revenue of 24,000 livres, out of which his tax to Rome is 2000 florins. It is said, a new bishop, on the first day of his entering the city, has the privilege to release all the prisoners in it, except those committed for treason. On the eighth of May, 1429, Orleans, then closely besieged by the English, was relieved by Joan of Arc, commonly called the Maid of Orleans; and the anniversary of that deliverance is still kept here. To perpetuate the memory of it, a monument of brass was erected on the bridge, which is still in being.