There are a dozen or more architectural styles in what is known as the France of to-day. The Provencal (more properly, says Fergusson, it should be called "Gallia Narbonese,") one of the most beautiful and clearly defined of all; the Burgundian, with its suggestion of luxuriance and, if not massiveness, at least grandeur; the Auvergnian, lying contiguous to both the above, with a style peculiarly its own, though of an uncompromising southern aspect; Acquitanian, defining the style which lies between Provence, the Auvergnat and the Pyrenees, and a type quite different from either. The Angevinian, which extends northward from Limoges to Normandy and Brittany, and northeasterly nearly to Orleans, is a species difficult to place--it partakes largely of southern influence, but is usually thought to merit a nomenclature of its own, as distinct from the type found at Anjou. Turning now to the northern or Frankish influence, as distinct from the Romance countries; Brittany joins to no slight degree influences of each region; Normandy partakes largely of the characteristics of the type of Central France, which is thoroughly dominated by that indigenous to the Isle of France, which species properly might include the Bourbonnais and Nivernoise variants, as being something of a distinct type, though resembling, in occasional details, southern features. This list, with the addition of French Flanders, with its Lowland types, completes the arrangement, if we except Alsace and Lorraine, which favour the German manner of building rather more than any of the native French types. II _A List of the Departments of France, and of the Ancient Provinces from which they have been evolved._ _Provinces and date of _Departements_ _Chefs-Lieux_ union with France_ Ile de France, with La Seine Paris Brie, etc. Always held Seine-et-Oise Versailles by the Crown Seine-et-Marne Melun Oise Beauvais Aisne Laon Picardie. Louis XIV, 1667 Somme Amiens Artois and Boulonnais. Pas-de-Calais Arras 1640 Flandre and Hainault Nord Lille Francais. Louis XIV. 1667-1669 Normandie. Philippe Seine-Inferieure Rouen Auguste, 1204 Eure Evreux Calvados Caen Orne Alencon Manche Saint-Lo Bretagne. Francois I. Ille-et-Vilaine Rennes 1532 Cotes-du-Nord Saint-Brieux Finisterre Quimper Morbihan Vannes Loire-Inferieure Nantes