TOULOUSE

TOULOUSE, a historic and important city of South France, capital of Haute-Garonne, pleasantly situated on a plain and touching on one side the Garonne (here spanned by a fine bridge) and on the other the Canal du Midi, 160 m. SE. of Bordeaux; notable buildings are the cathedral and Palais de Justice; is the seat of an archbishop, schools of medicine, law, and artillery, various academies, and a Roman Catholic university; manufactures woollens, silks, &c.; in 1814 was the scene of a victory of Wellington over Soult and the French. Under the name of Tolosa it figures in Roman and mediæval times as a centre of learning and literature, and was for a time capital of the kingdom of the Visigoths.