240 SuOmer. [MARCH, 



square ; but though it includes the Hotel de Ville and the Tribunal de 

 Commerce, it has not a single feature calling for particular description, 

 except that one corner of it opens immediately upon the loftiest part of 

 the ramparts, and presents a very pleasing view of the neighbouring 

 country. At the north-west corner of the Place Royale, one of the three 

 principal streets commences, and runs in nearly a straight line the whole 

 length of the town. This street (called at present* the rue de Dunkerque) 

 is the principal street of retail business, and is more characteristic in its 

 appearance than any other in the town, on account of the antique air of 

 the houses being more generally preserved. A few of the old gabel ends 

 are retained ; some of the fronts are embossed with flowers and fruit ; 

 and in most the windows still keep those numerous small squares and thick 

 frames which modern taste has so entirely exploded. All this gives an 

 antique look to the whole, the general effect of which is worth all the 

 (so called) improvements that have elsewhere been substituted in their 

 place. This antique effect, too, is heightened rather than injured by the 

 excellent state of repair and cleanliness in which all the houses are pre- 

 served, and even by the various and gay colours pink, sky-blue, yellow, 

 bright green, &c. in which many of the fronts are painted. The rue 

 de Dunkerque is of a spacious width, till towards the lower extremity, 

 where it narrows, and finishes in the quay of the canal that runs to 

 Dunkerque, Calais, Gravelines, &c. Parallel with and to the south of 

 the rue de Dunkerque, run the two other principal streets the rue 

 Royale, and the rue St. Bertin. The first named of these is perhaps one 

 of the best streets possessed by any second or third-rate town in France. 

 It includes but few shops, and has consequently none of the lively, 

 various, and entertaining character of the one described above. But the 

 coup d'ceil, as seen from the lower extremity, looking towards the Petite 

 Place, in which it terminates, is strikingly good, and, in some respects, 

 reminds one of the High-street, Oxford with this difference in its 

 favour, however, that no one point of it is unpleasantly inferior to the 

 rst. This street is composed chiefly of private houses, some of which are 

 spacious, and have carriage entrances, enclosing large court-yards ; 

 others are approached by double flights of stone steps ; but none' have 

 any very decided character or style of architecture, either ancient or 

 modern with one exception : the hotel of M. Sandelin is a noble private 

 residence, the principal rooms of which occupy the three sides of a spa- 

 cious court the fourth side being filled up by the screen and gateway 

 which flank the street. But even of this edifice there is nothing remark- 

 able but the screen and gateway, which are lofty and in good taste. 

 The house itself, as seen from the court-yard, has a poor appearance, 



* I say " at present," because so inveterately changeable are the habits of the French 

 people, that they cannot let even the names of their streets remain permanent. In 

 many of the principal towns, if you ask for a street by its present appellation, the 

 chances are that the person you address, if an old and old-fashioned inhabitant, either 

 does not or will not know what you mean. Thus, at St. Omer, if you want to be con- 

 ducted to the rue de Dunkerqae, your shortest and surest method is to ask for the rue 

 <rles Carnies ; and at Dunkerque, if you seek the rue d'Angouleme, you should inquire 

 for it as the rue des Capucines. The two changes above alluded to will shew you the 

 sad principle, too, on which these changes are made. The French cannot abide any 

 thing that includes or springs from old recollections and associations. The ci-devant 

 titles of these streets served, no doubt, to indicate the site of some old convent or abbey 

 of Carmelites and Capucines. Since the Restoration, too, the best street in every town 

 ias become royale, whatever it was before. This may be almost taken as a rule* 



