--

It was long before the ladies arose-and when they did rise and come on deck, we were within sight of the coast of France. What sensations and reflections were awakened in my mind by the first view of the cliffs as they stretched along the horizon, I shall not attempt to describe. To record them would only be to repeat what multitudes have said before me-you may well suppose they were powerful and affecting. The land I had so ardently desired to see-the people with whom I had longed to mingle-the habits and the manners I had often contemplated at a distance, were now before me.The scenes and transactions of twenty years of bloodshed-the bitterness of national animosity cherished through so long a period—the awfully interesting posture which the affairs of that country had in our own time assumed-and all the wounds, and concussions, and fearful struggles, by which she had been harassed and tormented, from the night when anarchy sat enthroned amid the horrors of the Abbaye, to the triumphs of death upon the plains of Waterloo, all rushed upon my mind--and never was an hour passed with greater impatience than that which we were compelled to spend before the harbour of Dieppe, till the rising of the tide should yield sufficient water for our crossing the bar and entering the port.

On entering within the pier, the first objects that arrested our attention were the women, of whom there were an abundance on the quay, and to whose officious and prompt assistance in towing the vessel

up

the harbour we were not a little indebted. Their dress their language-their manners-their whole appearance, was quite new, and we felt in a moment that we were in a foreign land. It is scarcely conceivable that so few miles and hours should make so vast a difference in one's feelings, and completely excite all that can be conveyed by the word foreigner in one's bosom. It was not a little strange to hear a language which we had been accustomed to associate with every idea of polish and of elegance, chattered with amazing volubility by the motley groupe collected on the quay to witness our arrival. There were many military men amongst the crowd, or sauntering, with their arms behind them, up and down the pier. Their appearance, I must confess, did not excite a very favourable impression in my mind of the French military character or costume. Their dress was extremely mean and slovenly-and corresponded most unhappily with the expres. sion of the countenance, in which one looked in vain for that bold and manly air-that dignified and noble independence, which are the usual indications of bravery, and generally associated with the profession of a soldier. Many were clad in brown great coats, certainly not the better for wear, while an immense cocked hat, without a feather, and a belt and a sword, were the only indications of the soldier they could boast. Are these, thought I, the men that have made monarchs tremble on their thrones, and kept the world in awe-were they such men as these that bore the eagles of Napoleon to

the gates of Vienna, and reaped the laurels of France on the fields of Austerlitz and Marengo ?

We soon discovered that we were in a Catholic country, for on the pier is an immense crucifix, on which the image of the Saviour is extended, carved in wood, as large as life, with the Virgin Mary weeping at his feet. At this image our pilot, a hardy, muscular old man, whose robust figure and weather-beaten countenance would form a fine subject for the pencil, crossed himself as he stood at the helm, and the vessel passed along. On reaching the place of landing, an officer of police came on board, and took our passports to be examined at the office established for that purpose. We were then allowed to disembark and take possession of our present quarters, at the Hotel de Londres.

Adieu. Your's, &c.

T. R.

1

MY DEAR

LETTER II.

Dieppe.

WE spent the evening in walking about the place—and, notwithstanding the contemptuous terms in which some travellers have spoken of Dieppe, I must say that it is, upon the whole, a fine town. It surrounds a spacious harbour, formed by an opening in the cliff, through which the tide passes, rising at high water into no mean expanse, though at other seasons it leaves the harbour almost entirely dry. The houses are built in part of brick and flint, and have a black and gloomy appearance. The streets are narrow, but the buildings are generally good. There is an air of humble magnificence about them-they look as though they had copied nobler models, and had seen days of greater splendour.

The entrance to our Inn gave us no very pleasing idea of the cleanliness or comfort of a French Hotel. We were conducted through the kitchen, amidst chamber-maids and cooks, up a broad staircase of red tile strewed with sand, into a large apartment, in which it is hard to say, whether the attempt at elegance, or the reality of meanness, was most apparent. The paper with which the walls were hung had been magnificent in its time-but was evidently

The chairs were ex

much the worse for wear. tremely mean, with rush bottoms-the side-boards had once been elegant, but their gilding was gonewhile the richness of their carving only served, in their present state of neglect and decay, to render their appearance more wretched and forlorn.

Dieppe is famous for its carvings in ivory and bone, and the principal, I might almost say the only purpose to which the art is here applied, is the making of crucifixes, and virgins, for the churches and private oratories of the devout Catholics. These articles are to be had in great profusion and very cheap. Lots of crucifixes are to be seen cut in bone about the size of your little finger, and strung together like bunches of keys. I bought three of these for a franc, and a Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus in her arms, stuck in a little box, and a larger crucifix, for a franc each. We visited the church of St. Jacques, the principal ecclesiastical edifice in Dieppe. It is a noble structure, and being the first Catholic church I had seen in a Catholic country, I was not a little interested and affected by the va rious objects that arrested my attention. The church is surrounded by little chapels or confessionals, each of which has its altar, its crucifix, and its picture. The paintings are various, both as it regards their subject and the merit of their execution; the greater part of them referring, I suppose, to some actions in the life of the saint to whom the chapel is consecrated. I was much amused with one of them. It represents the miraculous draught of fishes-but the