292 Gardening Visit to Paris, 



of earth, which, our guide told us, when placed there by a friend 

 of the abbe, contained Due van Thol tulips. A biographical 

 notice of M. Gossier, of whose beautiful garden, mentioned in 

 one of our early volumes, we have a plan ready to engrave, has 

 been kindly promised us by Professor Pouchet. The abbe had 

 a handsome fortune, half of which he left to public institutions 

 in Rouen, and his excellent library to one of the schools. 



The principal Improvements that have taken place at Rouen, 

 since we last saw it, have been made along the quays, and consist 

 of a suspension-bridge, the completion of a stone bridge, and the 

 line of buildings, public and private, in very good taste. The 

 streets in the interior of the town have not yet had footpaths of 

 asphalte laid down, an improvement much wanted, on account of 

 their narrowness and the roughness of the pavement. Never- 

 theless, there are some very remarkable improvements ; such as 

 the formation of a spire to the cathedral, including a staircase 

 within, both entirely of openwork of cast iron ; and the Hotel 

 de Ville is improving in what may be called the Municipal 

 Gothic style. In this building, suspended against the wall of 

 the grand staircase, is a brass plate, the inscription on which 

 recalled to mind our favourite idea of the ultimate prevalence of 

 the same weights, measures, money, laws, and language : it was 

 dated 19th Brumaire, an 8, and signed Liberie et Egalite. We 

 observed in one part of the town a contrivance for preventing 

 bad smells from arising from aquariums, which is worthy of imi- 

 tation in towns in similar climates to those of Rouen and Paris, 

 viz. a copper tube, placed in the back part of the aquarium, 

 pierced with holes, from which there is a continual flow of 

 water. We observed, also, portable wooden aquariums, formed 

 of staves, like casks, and placed in the angles of buildings, by 

 which the fluid is preserved for manure ; but these, we think, 

 would be improved by a wooden screen placed before each, open 

 at the two sides ; which would also be a great improvement in 

 the aquariums formed on the Boulevards in Paris. The broad 

 gutters in the streets in the interior part of Rouen are not so 

 injurious as the broad gutters in Dieppe, on account of the much 

 greater steepness of the former town; but, nevertheless, every thing 

 ought to be attempted by the authorities which has a tendency 

 to narrow the evaporating surface. 



Rouen to Paris. — JnlyS. Went on board the steam-boat at 

 ^ past 4 ^o'clock in the morning, and arrived at Pecq, near 

 St. Germains, at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. The banks of the 

 river are varied and agreeable, one being higher than the other, 

 and there are 300 islands. The high bank, being chiefly chalk or 

 limestone hills, has a tame character as compared with the lower 

 part of the Rhine, and some parts of the Rhone between Lyons and 

 Avignon. There are a number of suspension and other bridges, 



