Dieppe. 24S 



ing. It is about 200 ft. long, constructed of timber, but in a 

 simple and elegant taste. It consists of a central, rectangular 

 mass pierced by an archway as an entrance, joined to two 

 larger pavilion wings, the one containing dressing-rooms and 

 a saloon for the ladies, and the other dressing-rooms and a 

 billiard-room for the gentlemen. The space between the wings 

 and the central archway, is occupied by two verandas open on 

 both sides, and forming an airy promenade during rain or hot 

 sunshine. Some critics might object to this structure, because 

 it is built of timber, and because the veranda is painted and 

 otherwise finished in the style of a Turkish tent; but, we con- 

 fess, with reference to its situation and uses, we think it in as 

 good taste, both in its form and in its materials, as the Gothic 

 cathedral which is built of sandstone, or the piers and quays 

 which are of squared blocks of granite, 



^Ve entered the Cathedral during religious service, and found 

 it completely filled, chiefly with elderly poor persons and 

 children ; perhaps about three fourths of the whole were 

 women. The solemnity and devotion were equal to any thingwe 

 ever witnessed; less pantomimic than in the churches of Russia, 

 and with more abandonment to the purpose of assemblage 

 than in Enfj^land. The hi<jh ascendino- lines of the architec- 

 ture, and the consciousness of the antiquity of the Catholic 

 religion, no doubt, added to the effect. One or two boxes 

 for charitable contributions were carried round by official per- 

 sons, in which many very poor old men and women dropped 

 something: because, in all countries, those are the most cha- 

 ritable who have the nearest view of poverty. We observed 

 little children putting in pieces so small that they must have 

 been liards or cents ; and could not help feeling that teaching 

 them to do so was an excellent means of educating their 

 affections. 



On comincr out of the Cathedral, the roundahouts and 

 swi)igs, which, on entering, we had seen stationary in the 

 market-place, were in motion ; and amusement seemed to be 

 as heartily engaged in by the young men, as religion was a few 

 minutes before by their grandsires. Four monkeys were 

 climbing the fronts of the houses, and running up and down 

 the water-spouts in different parts of the streets, to the no 

 small gratification of the children ; and we also were so much 

 amused, that we incurred the censure of our host for tempting 

 the monkey-keepers, four boys who said they were from 

 Parma, to make them show off their professional antics on the 

 front of his house. 



Sept. 1. Dieppe to Rouen, — One sea-port town is so like 

 another, all over the world, that an Englishman in Dieppe 



R 2 



