258 LETTERS FROM A CONTINENTAL TOURIST. 



found except on the bouquette. Now this is the cheapest part of the 

 coach, and, for the most part, appropriated to inferior passengers. 

 But in reality it is by far the most agreeable, being, in fact, the front 

 seat on the top, with a cover over it like that of a cabriolet. As it 

 happened I had the company of two Englishmen, as eager to 'get 

 forward as myself, and we passed our time pleasantly enough. Nor- 

 mandy in its general appearance, as far as nature is concerned, very 

 much resembles England. The same perpetual verdure, the trees 

 and hedge-rows, the waving surface of the soil all was familiar- 

 looking and delicious ; but, then, one need not come so far for it. 

 However, there was much to satisfy me of the identity of Nor- 

 imuidy and France. The first signs were in the cuisine : at 

 breakfast we had, among others, a dish of pigeons' wings fried 

 in what appeared to me to be train oil, but I suppose I was 

 mistaken. To return however to St. Malo, the town requires 

 little description ; it is built on a tongue of arid soil that runs into the 

 sea, is surrounded by high walls, and is as dirty and uncomfortable as 

 can be well imagined. But my business lay not here. So that after 

 a visit to the sous-prefecture to obtain my passport, and a stroll round 

 the town and along the ramparts, my curiosity was amply satisfied; 

 and I spent the remainder of my spare time in watching the drill of 

 some companies of the thirty-third regiment, which was quartered 

 here. You must not suppose that the much and deservedly-praised 

 French soldiery show so well as we might expect. They are, for the 

 most part, much shorter and slighter than our fellows, and though 

 they have a peculiar character, and that too very military, I do not 

 think they are nearly so perfect in their evolutions. You look in 

 vain for the regularity and firmness of our troops ; and, though I do 

 not pretend to be a judge in military affairs, I think, without know- 

 ing it to be the truth, I could guess that they would give way before 

 a charge of English bayonets, however gallant and fearless of danger 

 their spirits might be in any other situation. The weight alone would 

 bear them down. But I may, perhaps, be able to say more about them 

 after I have looked round me in Paris. I return to the point of de- 

 parture from St. Malo the messageries. 



" A vos places messieurs les voyageurs" cried the conductor ; and 

 I mounted the diligence. "Eh! roule, cocker" for the postillion no 

 longer exists. The harness is not improved, but the horses are driven 

 much after the fashion of our own four-horse coaches. The whip, 

 formed of a'long strip of untanned hide fastened to the end of a clumsy 

 stick,was cracked, and offtrotted our five ragged-heeled, rough-coated 

 horses, dragging the lumbering vehicle after them as fast as they 

 might. Of course during the night we could see nothing ; but, as the 

 morning- advanced, we were presented with every variety of the 

 high Norman cap, which, to my eye~, is the reverse of graceful. 

 The eternal blouse and a straw hat, or a white cotton nightcap, fur- 

 nished a head-dress^for the he-peasants, with occasionally the addition 

 of sabots. The pigs, who like all French "pigs I have ever seen, are 

 long-legged and lank-bellied, have collars formed of four staves, each 

 pair parallel and at right angles with the other pair, the head being 

 inserted in the square of the centre. I have no doubt that they are 

 very inconvenient to the wearers, but they seemed admirably adapted 



