an arrondissement in the department of the Vienne, in France, extending over 379 square miles. It contains four cantons, divided into sixty-seven communes, and is inhabited by 33,400 persons. The capital is the city of the same name, which occupies a mountainous situation. It is well built, and contains 860 houses, with 5600 inhabitants, who are occupied in tanneries, and in making thread-lace, serges, and other thin woollen goods. Long. 0. 3. W. Lat. 47. 2. N.