Paris and northern France :: :: University of Virginia Library

At Frouard the carriages for Metz are detached from the train
to Nancy and Strasbourg, cross the canal and the Moselle near
the station and follow the pleasant and populous valley of the
latter, which here becomes navigable and is enclosed between
gently sloping banks.

Pont-à-Mousson, with the ruined fortress Mousson (fine view)
on an eminence, its church (St. Martin) with two towers and its
bridge over the Moselle, presents a pleasing picture. Cardinal

METZ

265

Charles of Lorraine founded a university here in 1573, the chairs
in which were occupied by Jesuits. Before the cession of Lorraine
to the French (1746) the town with its small territory
was under the jurisdiction of a German Margrave.

On a mountain on the l., near stat. Pagny, are the ruins of
the château of Prény, once appertaining to the Dukes of Lorraine.
Excellent wine is produced here.

At stat. Novéant a suspension-bridge crosses the Moselle. On
the r. bank of the river the extensive remains of a Roman
*Aqueduct, constructed by Drusus, visible from a considerable
distance, are perceived at intervals. It was 57 ft. in height and
3420 ft. in length and conducted water from the hills of the r. bank
to Divodurum, the modern Metz. At Jouy-aux-Arches 11 arches
are still well preserved, and at Ars (or rather Arches-sur-Moselle),
7 others, termed by the peasantry "Pont du Diable", rise close
to the railway. The bridge by which the train crosses the
Moselle affords a good final survey of this imposing Roman
structure.

The train then reaches Metz, which lies so buried amidst its
green ramparts, that little of the town is perceived from the
railway.