LETTER II.

Dieppe.

MY DEAR

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 much the worse for wear. The chairs were extremely 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 various 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 asit 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 fish are all mackerel. Now this is a fish for which Dieppe is justly celebrated-we had some of them at dinner, the finest I ever saw-so that while the painting itself was devised in honour of Christ, the choice of the fish was probably intended by the artist as a compliment to his employers. By the high altar are some precious relics preserved with the greatest care. The bones of St. Fabian, and St. Valentine, and of some other Saint, of whom I

know as little as of these.

Their bones, I suppose, miracles, like the blood

have the power of working of St. Januarius at Rome. Here we also saw a Virgin Mary as large as life, with the infant Saviour in her arms, and adorned with a new muslin petticoat trimmed with lace. With these things, however, we were soon wearied, and we left the church, thanking that God who had cast our lot in another land, and taught us better things.

From the church we proceeded to the Boulevards, which are extremely mean, and uninteresting, as a public walk, and had a most forsaken and deplorable appearance. From thence we were shewn the dock which Buonaparte had begun, for the improvement

of this port. It was designed to receive vessels of 300 tons burden, and would certainly have added greatly to the commercial importance of Dieppe. The work, however, has been suspended since his overthrow.

At night the streets and the quays presented a most lively and imposing scene. They were thronged with people—all in motion-while the long windows of the houses, with their folding-doors of glass, for the most part thrown open, and affording a view of the interior of their several apartments, poured on the moving and variegated groups below a flood of light, that gave the whole town the gay and brilliant air of a fète or carnival.

Your's, &c.

MY DEAR

LETTER III.

Rouen.

Before

WE left Dieppe this morning, and reached Rouen, 42 miles, about 3 p. m. leaving Dieppe we took another ramble round the town. It was market day, and we were much pleased with the appearance of the people, especially of the women. I never saw such beautiful women any where as in Dieppe; and the neatness of their dress is beyond all praise. Their high caps of white linen, white as the driven snow-their cheerful and good-humoured countenances, and the native elegance and gracefulness of their manners, cannot fail most deeply to interest a stranger. The same, however, cannot be said of the men. There is a meanness, and slovenliness, and an air of wretchedness and misery about them which exceedingly disgusts. I can truly say, that I did not see a single man in Dieppe that had, to my English eyes at least, the appearance of a gentleman.

I was not a little amused at the ceremony which took place at the office of police at the granting of