one of the five great naval ports of France, and the principal town in the arrondissement of the same name in the department of Morbihan, is situated on the northern shore of the Bay of Biscay, where the rivers Scarf and Blavet, after mingling their waters, fall into the Bay of St Louis. It is a large and flourishing town, strongly fortified, tolerably well built, but not very clean, standing in an angle between two creeks, one of which forms the naval the other the mercantile port. The port, which is large and commodious, is walled off from the town, thereby excluding all view of the water from the inhabitants. It is the seat of a maritime prefecture, of a civil tribunal, of a tribunal of commerce, of a college, and of a school of naval artillery. The dockyard is the first in France for the building and equipment of ships of war; there is accommodation on its slips for the simultaneous construction of thirty ships of war. It has an arsenal, a park of artillery, engineering works, masting-sheds and forges, &c. There is a good trade in sardines, marine stores, iron, wax, honey, &c. The town is quite modern. Founded by the French India Company in the reign of Louis XIV., in 1664, it was not till the time of the Duke of Orleans that the company took full advantage of the accommodation of Lorient. The greater portion of the town was then built, and the port fortified. In 1745 it contained thirty-five frigates, besides a very great number of ships, averaging from 900 to 1200 tons burden. In the comparatively short space of thirty years Lorient had risen to the first rank of towns. On the dissolution of the company in 1770, it was made one of the stations for the French navy. Its population and shipping declined during the unsettled period of the Revolution, but since the peace of 1815 it has been more than restored to its former activity. Pop. 25,700.