SARLAT  , a

town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Dordogne, 44 M . E. by N. of Bergerac on the railway to Aurillac . Pop . (1906) town 40x8, commune 6195 . The town grew up round a monastery founded in the 8th century and early in the 14th century became the seat of a bishopric which was suppressed in 1790 . The former cathedral and abbey-church preserves interesting architecture of the Romanesque and later periods and remarkable wood-carving of the 15th century . There is also a curious pyramidical structure of the 12th century, which was probably used as a burial-place . The house where Etienne de la Boetie (d . 1563), the moralist, was born, and other houses in the Gothic and Renaissance styles are to be seen . La Boetie has a statue in the town . There is a large trade in cattle . Distilling, the manufacture of tin-boxes, and the preparation of truffles, pates de foie gras and other delicacies and of nut-oil are carried on; there are coal and iron mines and stone-quarries in the vicinity .