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BRIGHTON DIEPPE ROUEN. 



FOR variety, cheapness, and comfort, the road to Paris by Brighton, 

 Dieppe, and Rouen is much to be preferred. With this conviction 

 on my mind, I started from Piccadilly one fine morning in the 

 month of July, arrived at Brighton about noon, caught the steam- 

 packet on the point of leaving the pier, and was soon on board her, 

 in the midst of light hearts and cheerful faces, bound to the opposite 

 shore, and anticipating the delight which most people expect to find 

 in the contemplation of a people whose manners and customs differ 

 materially from their own. In the early days of steaming across the 

 waves, the roaring of the furnace, the hissing of the steam through 

 the safety-valve, and the Babel-like confusion of a crowded packet, 

 would have appalled many a heart, and conveyed some ideas to a 

 poet of the horrors of infernal regions ; but custom has now rendered 

 all these things familiar to the most timid, and even add to their 

 pleasures. In a few seconds the ringing of the last bell, and the cry 

 of " cast off" resounded through the vessel : the wheels began to 

 move ; the old steamer, with many a groan, seeming to quit with 

 reluctance the gay throng assembled on the pier to watch her 

 movements, was soon compelled to betake herself to the deep. 



The town of Brighton, seen from any point, is beautiful; but the 

 view of the neighbouring country from the sea, in fine clear 

 weather, such as we fortunately enjoyed, baffles all power of 

 description. The bay of Naples or of Geneva, and the scenes 

 spread around the confluence of the Hudson and the East River at 

 New York, have been celebrated, and justly so, by various writers; 

 but I must confess that neither of them surpasses in magnificence the 

 shores of Brighton. Princely buildings, hills covered with verdure, 

 mountains rising on mountains in the back ground, a variegated 

 throng of beauty and fashion moving on the far-extended pier, 

 which seems upheld by fairy hand over the heaving element; the 

 glitter of gay vehicles on the shore, and flocks of sheep browzing on 

 the surrounding eminences, form altogether a coup-d'oeil, which, if 

 minutely described, would appear to be a work of fiction. It is true, 

 we saw all this under the most favourable circumstances ; for the 

 heavens were cloudless, the sun throwing its splendid rays over the 

 whole scene, and the green expanse of water in which we floated 

 was rendered more vivid by its beams, reflecting every object on its 

 surface, and reminded us of the calm abodes of the fabulous 

 Halcyon. 



Long did we gaze on these beauties, now every hour fading from 

 the sight ; but in their undefined forms not less attractive. Every 

 tongue was silent; and every eye was turned on the shores of our 

 Albion, till the mists of evening cast a veil over the interesting 

 scene. The tongue now resumed its office; the wind freshened; 



