CHARLEVILLE  , a

town of north-eastern France, in the department of Ardennes, 151 m . N.E. of Paris on the Eastern railway . Pop . (1go6) 19,693 . Charleville is situated within a bend of the Meuse on its left bank, opposite Mezieres, with which it is united by a suspension bridge . The town was founded in 16o6 by Charles III . (Gonzaga), duke of Nevers, afterwards duke of Mantua, and is laid out on a uniform plan . ' Its central and most interesting portion is the Place Ducale, a large square surrounded by old houses with high-pitched roofs, the porches being arranged so as to form a continuous arcade; in the centre there is a fountain surmounted by a statue of the duke Charles . A handsome church in the Romanesque style and the other public buildings date from the 19th century . An old mill, standing on the bank of the river, dates from the early years of the town's existence . On the right bank of the Meuse is Mont Olympe, with the ruins of a fortress dismantled under Louis XIV . Charleville, which shares with Mezieres the administrative institutions of the department of Ardennes, has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators and lycees and training colleges for both sexes .

Its

chief industries are metal-founding and the manufacture of nails, anvils, tools and other iron goods, and brush-making; leather-working and sugar-refining, and the making of bricks and clay pipes are also carried on .