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TOURNAY

Volume 18 · 175 words · 1797 Edition

a town of the Austrian Netherlands in Flanders, and capital of a district called Tournay, with a bishop's see. It is divided into two parts by the river Scheld; and is large, populous, well built, and carries on a great trade in woollen stuffs and stockings. The cathedral is a very handsome structure, and contains a great many chapels, with rich ornaments, and several magnificent tombs of marble and brass. The town was taken by the allies in 1709; but was ceded to the house of Austria by the treaty of Utrecht, though the Dutch had a right to put in a garrison. It was taken by the French in June 1745, who demolished the fortifications. In 1781 the emperor Joseph II. obliged the Dutch to withdraw their garrison. It was taken by the French in 1791, abandoned by them in 1793, and again conquered by them in 1794. It is 14 miles south-east of Lille, 30 south-west of Ghent, and 135 north by east from Paris. E. Long. 3. 28. N. Lat. 50. 33.