Dieppe. 1 23 



the fashions of Paris ; but the great mass are, and have been, 

 clothed with the same forms and colours for centuries past. 

 In France, the same holiday dresses often descend from the 

 parents to their children, even in the lowest orders ; in Eng- 

 land, a grandchild in this class is more likely never to have 

 heard of his grandfather's existence ; for ignorance and the ne- 

 cessity of continual hard labour, both of parents and children, 

 seldom allow the English mechanics to have more than two 

 ideas, getting and expending. The great prosperity which is 

 attending the cotton manufacture in France, will probably 

 soon revolutionise the dresses of the country people, and give 

 a reciprocal stimulus in industry to manufacturers and agri- 

 culturists ; but, we hope, education, and their natural vivacity 

 and love of amusements, which is in fact the love of life, the 

 love of being convinced that we exist and are capable of being 

 made happy, will prevent them from falling into that dreadful 

 state of degradation, which is, or was till lately, characteristic 

 of the Lancashire operative manufacturer. 



There are very few gardens in or about Dieppe, which 

 must arise from the want of wealth among the inhabitants; 

 because the climate, unlike that of Brighton and other marine 

 towns exposed to the easterly winds, is favourable to vege- 

 tation. We observed one or two very small spots curiously 

 and carefully laid out, and a miniature orchard, containing, 

 besides the ordinary fruit trees, specimens of the true service, 

 medlar, quince, Spanish chestnut, and walnut. Each tree was 

 planted in a circle of about a yard in diameter, edged with 

 box : in the circles were various flowers, and the intervening 

 spaces were covered with gravel. The object evidently was 

 to produce as much fruit as could be grown on so limited a 

 space ; every variety of walking backwards and forwards in 

 the shade; and the fragrance and beauty of such flowers as 

 will grow under the drip of trees. We looked into another 

 spot planted with pear trees, trained en pyramide, and very 

 neatly kept* 



There were not many pots of flowers in the windows of the 

 street houses ; but such as we saw were characteristic of the 

 present state of botanical taste in France, and of the state of 

 the same taste in England about the middle of last century, 

 viz. orange and pomegranate trees, the former with fruit and 

 blossoms ; the Capsicum ^momum Plin/z (*Solanum Pseiido- 

 capsicum. Vol. II. p. 378.), beautifully covered with fruit, and 

 indeed it is a most ornamental plant ; one or two myrtles, and 

 some stock gillyflowers and carnations. 



The Dieppe Nursery. — The only nursery that we saw was 

 that of M. Racine, fils. This tradesman belongs to a local 



