Caen is designated in Duke Richard's charter, by the appellation of "in Bajocensi comitatu villa quæ dicitur _Cathim_, super fluvium Olnæ."--From _Cathim_, came _Cahem_; and _Cahem_, in process of time, was gradually softened into _Caen_. The elision that took place in the first instance, is of a similar nature to that by which the Italian words _padre_ and _madre_, have been converted into _père_ and _mère_; and the alteration in the latter case continued to be indicated by the diæresis, which, till lately, separated the two adjoining vowels.--Towards the latter part of the eleventh century, Caen is frequently mentioned by the monkish historians, in whose Latin, the town is styled _Cadomus_ or _Cadomum_.--And here ingenious etymologists have found a wide field for conjecture: Cadomus, says one, was undoubtedly founded by Cadmus; another, who hesitates at a Phoenician antiquity, grasps with greater eagerness at a Roman etymon, and maintains that _Cadomus_ is a corruption from _Caii domus_, fully and sufficiently proving that the town was built by Julius Cæsar. Robert Wace states, in his _Roman de Rou_, that, at the time immediately previous to the conquest of England, Caen was an open town.-- "Encore ert Caen sans Châtel, N'y avoit mur, ny quesnel."-- And Wace is a competent witness; for he lived during the reign of Henry Ist, to whom he dedicated his poem. Philip de Valois, in 1346, allowed the citizens to surround the town with ditches, walls, and gates. This permission was granted by the king, on the application of the inhabitants, Caen, as they then complained, being still open and unfortified. Hence, the fortifications have been considered to be the work of the fourteenth century, and, generally speaking, they were unquestionably, of that time; but it is equally certain, that a portion was erected long before.