a town of France, and capital of a canton of the same name, in the department of Pas de Calais on the south shore of the Straits of Dover, 26 miles E.S.E. of Dover, and 233 miles north from Paris. N. Lat. 50° 57', E. Long. 1° 51'. It is built in a rectangular form, having one of its longer sides towards the sea, which washes it on the north and west, while on the east and south it is surrounded by low and marshy ground which easily admits of being flooded so as to strengthen its defences. It is strongly fortified by bastions and forts, and communicates both with the port and the land by means of gates and drawbridges. Overlooking the town on the west stands the citadel, a fortress of great strength, erected by Cardinal Richelieu in 1560. In the centre of the town is the great market-place, in which stands the Hotel de Ville, surmounted by a tower and lighthouse for the shipping, and adorned with busts of the Duke of Guise, Eustache de Saint Pierre, and Cardinal Richelieu. The principal church, erected in the Gothic style by the English during their occupancy of Calais, contains an altar-piece by Vandyk, and is surmounted by a graceful tower. The apartments of Henry VIII. are still pointed out in the Hotel de Guise; and in a suburban wood-yard, a pillar marks the grave of Lady Hamilton, whose history is so painfully associated with that of Nelson. The harbour of Calais is shallow, admitting vessels (of from 400 to 500 tons) only at high water; but the pier, three-quarters of a mile long, forms an agreeable promenade. The principal in- situations are the schools of design and hydrography, the public libraries, and the baths. Its commerce consists chiefly in the exportation of wine, corn, oil, salt, brandy, wood, and eggs; and in the importation of linen, thread, machinery, ironmongery, and colonial produce. Many of the vessels engaged in the cod, herring, and mackerel fisheries, belong to Calais; and the manufacture of bobbin-net in imitation of English goods has so rapidly increased of late that the building of factories has already encroached on the inner ramparts. The use of steam instead of water power has also been greatly extended. Besides these, the manufacture of soap, straw-bonnets, and leather, gives employment to a considerable number of hands. Calais has communication with Dover and London by submarine telegraph laid down in 1851, and by steamers which cross twice a-day. It used to be the principal landing-place for English travellers on the continent, but in this respect has been greatly supplanted by Boulogne. Pop. 12,000, many of whom are English.

Calais continued a petty fishing village with a natural harbour at the mouth of a stream till the end of the tenth century. It was first improved by Baldwin IV., Count of Flanders in 997, and afterwards in 1224 was regularly fortified by Philippe of France, Count of Boulogne. It was besieged by Edward III. after the battle of Crécy, and held out resolutely for eleven months by the bravery of Jean de Vienne the governor. Having been saved, at the intercession of Eustache de Saint Pierre and Queen Philippa, from the cruel fate with which Edward menaced them, the inhabitants were induced to surrender, and left the city to be occupied by an English colony. It continued in the hands of the English till 1558, when it was taken by the Duke of Guise after a short siege of seven days, and the English were expelled. It was held by the Spaniards for two years, 1596–S, till the ratification of the treaty of Vervins.

PAS DE. See PAS DE CALAIS.