a fortified town of France, in the department of the Nord, and situated on the right bank of the Scheldt, 32 miles south of Lille. N. Lat. 50.10., E. Long. 3.14. The houses are pretty well built, and the fortifications have been improved according to Vauban's plan. The principal edifice is the cathedral church of St Sepulchre, a modern building erected on the site of the one which was destroyed at the French Revolution. It contains a monument by David raised to the memory of Fénelon, who was archbishop of Cambrai, and consisting of three bas-reliefs illustrative of the various incidents of his life. He was buried in the ancient cathedral, but at the revolution his tomb was broken open and his coffin melted into bullets. Besides the cathedral there is the church of St Gery, the Hôtel de Ville, the public library containing upwards of 30,000 volumes, the archiepiscopal palace, and several other public buildings. It is the seat of a college, of a medical and ecclesiastical seminary, and of judicial and commercial tribunals of the first instance. Cambrai is principally famous for the manufacture of fine muslin, called cambrie, after the name of the town; but it also contains extensive manufactories of cotton and linen yarn, tulle, lace, black soap, sugar, brandy, saltpetre, &c. Its principal trade is in corn, wine, wool, flax, butter, hops, &c. The Scheldt begins to be navigable at Cambrai, and communicates with St Quentin by means of a canal. Pop. 18,987.

Cambrai is the ancient Nervian town of Camaracum, and was at one time the capital of an independent kingdom. It was fortified by Charlemagne; and the citadel was built in the middle of the sixteenth century by Charles V. It was taken by assault by the English in 1815 after the battle of Waterloo.