BRIGHTON DIEPPE ROUEN. 381 



seemed assembled to bark at us; the whole producing a charivari, 

 which brought all the shopkeepers to the door, to laugh at John Bull 

 seated in the place usually occupied by the canaille, and wondering 

 that he should prefer it to the comfortable coupee beneath. But John 

 likes to see and be seen. He aims, wherever he goes, as far as I have 

 observed, at originality ; and cares little about what the natives say 

 of him. 



As we ascended the long and steep hill which rises from the town, 

 in almost a straight line, for the distance of two miles, we had full 

 leisure to view the celebrated vallee cTArque extending far to the 

 left, and passing in review before our mind's eye, the extraordinary 

 events of which it has been, at several periods, the theatre, and of 

 which the splendid remains of the castle,* and the obelisk erected 

 in late times at the expense of the Duchess of Berry, are eloquent 

 memorials. At length, arrived with much difficulty at the summit 

 of this " proud rising," and rested some time to refresh the horses 

 and postillion, the conductor (an important personage about a French 

 diligence) gave the word, and on we trundled, with almost as much 

 noise as a whole train of artillery with all their materiel would have 

 made at the same pace. We now descended rapidly again into the 

 valley, at the utmost speed of the horses (about ten miles an hour), 

 and the jerks and creaks of the ponderous vehicle became truly 

 appalling ; but the horses, sure-footed if not fleet, performed their 

 business admirably, although little supported by the miserable rope- 

 harness by which they are managed. 



Rattling along at the rate of about six miles an hour, we passed 

 through a country eminently adorned by nature, but possessing little 

 of the artificial beauty with which, in England, we love to improve 

 even the beauties which a beneficent Providence has bestowed on 

 us. The ch&teaux of the wealthy citizens and even the nobility, 

 here, still retain the formal arrangements of the olden time. All is 

 'stiff and formal ; no artificial hill and dale as with us ; no meandering 

 walks or gurgling rivulets are created by the skill of the landscape 

 gardener ; a few trees cut into fantastical shapes, and an avenue of 

 fruit trees, are almost the only indications of a chateau, a name given 

 to every house above the common size inhabited by an independent 

 proprietor. Frenchmen, in general, seldom identify themselves with 

 the soil which gives them the means of subsistence. It is at Paris 

 alone that they seem to enjoy life. The calm delights of a country- 

 seat, domestic recreations, the society of an amiable family, and the 

 task of instructing their children under the paternal roof, are joys 

 seldom courted by our Gallic neighbours. Paris is the summum bonum 

 of their earthly happiness. " // n'y a quun Paris" is the first ex- 

 pression they are taught to utter, and which seems to influence the 

 whole course of their lives. However, as estates in France are let 

 out in small farms, the fields are well tilled, produce abundantly, 



* This castle was built in 1046, and was dismantled by Henri IV., after 

 his victory over the Duke de Guise. Travellers visiting Dieppe, would b.e 

 much gratified in inspecting its now ivy-covered ruins. 



M.M. No. 10. 3 C 



