a town of France, capital of an arrondissement of the same name, and of the department of Moselle, is situated on both sides of the Moselle, at its confluence with the Seille, 180 miles E.N.E. of Paris, and 80 W.N.W. of Strasbourg. The houses are for the most part well built, but the streets are generally narrow, steep, and irregularly laid out. The rivers are lined with quays, and crossed by no less than seventeen bridges. Metz is very well fortified, being the chief defence of the frontier between the Meuse and the Rhine, and next to Strasbourg, the strongest town in France. The fortifications were constructed by Vauban and Belle-Ile; and the principal forts are Belle Croix, which protects the town on the E., and La Double Couronne on the N. The city is surrounded by walls, in which there are nine gates, only six, however, being actually used. Some of the gates are of great antiquity, having remains of the machinery for raising and lowering the portcullis. The principal building in Metz is the cathedral, a Gothic structure which was begun in the eleventh, but not completed till the sixteenth century; it is in the form of a cross, and is much admired for the boldness and lightness of its architecture. It is about 380 feet in length, and has an elegant spire nearly 400 feet high, from which an extensive and beautiful view may be obtained. Besides this, the church of Notre Dame de la Ronde, and that of the abbey of St Vincent, are remarkable for their antiquity; and the former possesses an ancient episcopal throne and other interesting remains. The military hospital is a large building, erected in the reign of Louis XV., capable of accommodating 1500 patients. Metz contains the largest school of artillery and engineering in France, the pupils of which are chosen from the Ecole Polytechnique of Paris. The town has also a town-hall, court-house containing a large public library, market-house, theatre, barracks, arsenal, &c. The manufactures of Metz consist of woollen and cotton stuffs, hosiery, plush, linen, paper, leather, glue, hardware, cutlery, &c. There is a large gunpowder factory, one of the first in France, on an island in the Moselle. Metz has also a large cannon foundry, the machinery of which is moved by water-power. The trade consists of the articles of manufacture, together with wines, brandy, confectionaries, groceries, &c. Metz is the see of a bishop, and has a court of appeal and tribunals of first instance and commerce. Metz is an ancient town. In the time of Caesar it was called Divodurum, and was the capital of the Gallic nation of the Mediomatrici, from whom, in the fifth century, it took the name of Mettis, whence its modern appellation. It is remarkable in ancient history for a massacre of the unsuspecting inhabitants, in a time of peace, by the army of Vitellius, in the year 70 A.D. In the fifth century Metz was destroyed by the Huns. No Roman remains have been discovered in the town; but a short distance to the S. an amphitheatre, baths, and other ruins have been found, which seem to point out this as the exact site of the ancient Divodurum. There are also some remains of the aqueduct by which the town was in ancient times supplied with water. In the middle ages Metz was the capital of the kingdom of Austrasia, but was made by the Emperor Otho II. a free imperial city, and thereafter used by the German emperors as a barrier against France. It was besieged by Charles VII. in 1444, and could only preserve its freedom by the payment of 100,000 crowns. At length Henri II. obtained possession of Metz in 1552; and although it was besieged by Charles V. with an army of 100,000 men, his efforts were completely baffled by the skill and energy of the Duke of Guise, and by the courage and constancy of the townspeople; so that the French continued in possession of the town till it, along with those of Toul and Verdun, was formally secured to them by the peace of Westphalia in 1648. Pop. (1851) 43,484.