_August 8th, 1821._--We had a cool but pleasant day to begin our
journey. Miss Wragge did not get her gown from Mademoiselle Bouillet
till we were all in the carriage, and she declared she would not go
without it, and told the man to drive off. At last after _great_
bustling we set off at eleven o'clock; papa, mamma, Catherine and
Caroline went before in the carriage, the rest of us went in the
_voiture_. I never felt so little regret at leaving a place. I looked
with joy at the houses and people, glad to think I should see them no
more. We sang most part of the way. At a distance we saw the convent of
St. Cyr. We passed the very long, fine aqueduct of Marli, and a small
one further on. About here it was pretty country; there were a good
many vineyards and orchards in corn. We had a view of Mount Calvary;
near which we saw a set of gypsies by the side of the road. We then
saw the Seine running through a pretty valley; and numerous vineyards
continued to St. Germains, about which the country is pretty and well
wooded. We stopped for some time at Poissy while the man rested his
horses. The house was like a public-house, but the mistress was a civil
little woman. There was a cloth on the table on which was some Gruyère
cheese, a loaf of bread and some pears; we took the pears, which were
very good: she charged a franc. She told us that an English lady had
been staying there a month. There was a pretty view out of the window.
We walked along beside the river, and got a nice view from the bridge;
there were a number of washer-women beating their clothes, and the
water was white with soap-suds. After we had left Poissy we saw several
horses carrying corn; their backs being hung with sheaves in a very
curious manner. The corn about here did not look good. There was a good
deal of asparagus; in some places there were alternate rows of corn and
asparagus. The man who drove us sang most of the time, and altered his
voice: he had been in England, and he said that when he came back to
France he could not persuade the people that in England it took only
one man to shoe a horse. He had an English dog with him, which he said
understood English, French, and Spanish. The name of the man was Jean
de Grange. Here the country was not so pretty, as there are no hedges;
the patches of corn and grass looked just like ribbons, particularly on
the side of a hill. We reached Mantes in the evening. After crossing
two bridges we saw a curious old church. The river looked full of soap;
I think the water must be very unwholesome considering the quantity of
soap which goes into it. We went to Hôtel du Grand Cerf. The floor of
the parlour was boarded, and there were two vases full of artificial
flowers; the people of the inn were civil. Two of our beds were in the
parlour, from which they were divided by doors that shut like a closet.
_August 9th._--We set off at a quarter to six. There were a few
vineyards, but the country was not pretty as far as Châlons. The banks
of the Seine are quite lovely, and the river looks well here, as there
are several islands in it. We saw a boat full of cattle going across
the river. There are a good many houses and vineyards on the banks.
Further on there were rows of walnut and plum trees by the roadside,
which looked very pretty. The corn looked fine, but very much laid.
There were not any animals, except here and there a skinny cow tethered
by the roadside. We breakfasted at Vernon. The room we were in was very
shabby. In one corner of a room we passed through there was a queer
jug--a boy sitting across a barrel. They brought us in an odd-looking
teapot; the water was smoked, as the tea-kettle had no lid, and the tea
tasted like herbs and water; the milk too was thymy, the butter bad,
and the bread sour. We had been told that in this part of the country
chickens were _fourpence_ a pair; the woman here told us that they were
_three francs_ and a half. It was at Vernon we saw a man sitting at the
door eating a raw artichoke and oil. After leaving Vernon there came on
a heavy shower of rain. We saw several men mowing the corn. When it was
fair, we got out at a cottage to gather some plums; the man shook the
tree, and we picked up those that fell; we gave him half a franc, with
which he seemed satisfied. We walked up a hill where we saw several
butterflies; some with black and yellow striped upper wings, and under
wings the colour of a dead leaf. There were rows of apple and pear
trees; we picked up a few apples and pears which were not ripe; the
apples were like alum and the pears like stone. The country was here
much prettier: it was more like England; we even saw a few flocks of
sheep, but they did not seem to get much: in one place they were eating
the earth. As we were walking up the hill an old woman came to beg;
the driver offered her a card of an inn, which he told her was a Bank
of England note: she did not, however, take it, but turned away. There
were several crucifixes in the villages and at the side of the road.
The women about here had generally short petticoats, and _very_ high
caps. The babies were wrapped up in swaddling-clothes, like mummies. We
stopt at Louviers. The inn was very poor and shabby. The mistress had
on a curious cap with long muslin lappets. While dinner was preparing
we walked through the town. We went into a curious old cathedral, where
were several figures with candles burning before them, and some Virgins
dressed with little veils, artificial flowers, etc. There were a great
many people kneeling down and repeating prayers. We went into a shop
to look for some caps, but they asked a great deal for the commonest,
so we did not buy them. The women here all wore the high caps. There
was one little boy with long flaxen hair, and the lady who was with him
took off his velvet cap to shew us his hair. On our way home we saw
the same man and boys dancing upon stilts that I had seen at Paris:
there was a great crowd round them, and a woman went about collecting
money, saying, 'Encouragez la petite famille.' When we reached the inn
dinner had been ready some time. As soon as we had dined we continued
our journey. We passed Pont Large in going out of the town. The country
was beautiful, and we had another view of the Seine; they were making
hay on one of the islands. Our eyes were quite refreshed by seeing two
or three green fields _hedged_ in, with a few cows feeding in them.
Certainly if any person wished to have a pleasant impression of France
they ought to come this way: it is beyond comparison prettier than the
Calais road; the banks of the Seine are so beautiful. Near Rouen there
is a chalk rock and several caverns with people living in them; and we
had another beautiful view of the river. It was dark when we reached
Rouen. It is an old, ugly town, but there appeared to be some good
shops. We stopped at the Custom-house (there were a number of ships
near it): they did not examine our trunks, but sent a person on to
the inn with us. We went to the Hôtel de Normandie, which was all in
confusion; the father of the people there was _just_ dead: their mother
had been dead two years. When papa and mamma asked what we could have
for dinner, they said anything; after it was ordered, however, they
brought in only very few of the things and said the table d'hôte had
eaten it all: and then they brought in two raw pigeons and asked if we
would like to have them dressed. One of the hotel servants had been at
Brighton, and she said she was very sorry to leave England, and was
going to try to get there again. She spoke English tolerably.
[Illustration: LOUVIERS WOMAN]
_August 10th._--Before breakfast we went to see the Church of St.
Ouen, where there is a beautiful wheel-window over the organ. One of
the churches here is like a coach-house. We set off again at nine. The
streets we passed through were extremely narrow and dirty, and the
town looked very busy, particularly about the shipping and river.[41]
We had a fine view of a hill just out of the town. There were a few
hedges here. We saw a coffin covered with black and white velvet on
some chairs before a door, with several candles burning round it, and
a procession of priests and boys with crucifixes at a distance. As
we were walking up a hill we saw an old beggar woman sitting by the
roadside in a bower of dead leaves: her petticoat was covered with
patches of all colours; she begged of us as we went past. We also saw
two very curious figures with gilt caps and red cloaks. We did not
see _near_ so many beggars this way as we did on the Calais road. We
stopped at Tôtes, where we dined. Before dinner we walked out past a
long building; we asked some women what it was: they told us it was a
corn-market, which belonged to Madame D'Ossonval _seigneur du village_.
We got sugared peas, etc., for dinner. After Tôtes, the country was
pretty: there were hedges like England. A good many of the people
here (especially the old women) wore ugly cotton caps and ribbons and
crosses. We walked up a hill near Dieppe. I almost strained my eyes to
see the sea; it was what I had wished to see for a long time; at last,
when we had reached the top of a hill, we had a view of the sea and of
Dieppe. We went to Taylor's English hotel. Out of the window of the
sitting-room you look upon the ships: it is close to the harbour. This
day we saw none of the curious caps we had heard about.
[Illustration: OLD WOMAN WITH A COTTON CAP]
_August 11th._--After breakfast we went into the market, where we saw
quite as curious figures as we had expected. Some of the caps had
lappets like butterflies' wings, and large bunches of hair turned up
behind. We saw some of the hair hanging at a shop-door: it was coarse
like horse-hair. A number of the people were dressed in black. We saw
three women, like a mother and her daughters, coming in to market
with baskets on their arms. They had on black gowns, aprons, and
handkerchiefs; caps, the lappets of which blew out with the wind and
showed a great bunch of hair; and gold ornaments about their necks.
There was one woman selling fruit who had on a very curious cap: the
frame was made of pasteboard, and the front of it covered with gold,
silver, spangles, tinsel, etc.; round the top there was a long piece of
muslin which hung almost to the ground. The women we saw in the market
had their lappets pinned up. Some of the old women had on cotton caps.
We passed several shops (in our way to the market) full of little ivory
ships and figures beautifully cut. We walked up to the castle, from
which we saw the whole of the town. We afterwards went on the cliffs
on the outside of the castle, from which we had a view of the sea with
several boats on it. A woman came and spoke to us about a house which
she had to let; she spoke very bad French: she called _cinquante_
'_shinquante_.' I could hardly understand the Dieppe people; they spoke
so much through their noses.[42] We wanted to buy a cap and a pair
of sabots. We went into two or three shops before we could get a cap
to our mind; we at last got a leno cap and an under cap to wear with
it, such as the women in black wore, which was the most common kind.
They told us that a gilt cap when new cost 20 francs. Our sabots cost
sixpence: the old woman thought we intended to wear them, and said we
ought to have a nicer kind. We asked several people the way to the
Church of St. Remi: the people of Dieppe seemed to have a disagreeable
manner. The Church of St. Remi is not beautiful. In one of the little
chapels there was a small figure of the Virgin Mary with a child in
her arms; her petticoats were painted scarlet, and she had on a lace
veil, a crown, and a bunch of flowers in her hand. We went to see the
Church of St. Jacques. There is a very pretty purple wheel-window over
the organ; and in a kind of recess in the wall there were a great many
figures holding a sheet covered with real flowers: before which there
were twenty-nine candles burning; several people came and stuck in a
candle. We looked into several of the little chapels: in one there was
a virgin, in another a ship, in another some filigree work in frames.
We dined at the table d'hôte. There were five English gentlemen. We
could not sail this evening, as the wind blew into the harbour; so
we went to buy pears to take in the ship next day. While we were
buying the pears we observed a number of children standing about and
looking at the fruit. Papa bought some currants and held them out to
the children, upon which they all ran away; papa and the woman told
them that the currants were for them, but they cried and seemed quite
stupid. At last one boy rather bigger than the rest took courage and
said to the others, 'Comme vous êtes bêtes'; and they all began to
eat, except one little child who screamed and tried to get away, and a
little girl who ran home. We were all anxious to go next day.
[Illustration: FRUIT-WOMAN WITH GILT CAP]
_August 12th._--We walked on the pier. There were a number of men
working at the ships; and a great many people were walking about. The
women had on full petticoats, coloured jackets, red aprons, queer
caps, gold chains, long earrings, and large buckles. The children
had high caps, and very full petticoats, so that when their backs
were turned I took them for dwarfs. Even some of the babies had old
women's caps and earrings.[43] Some of the people had very curious
caps trimmed with lace; one had a cap with the crown filled full of
frills. The most extraordinary-looking creatures were the fish-women:
I could hardly tell whether they were men or women. They had on coarse
canvas petticoats, so short that one could see their red garters; blue
jackets, and canvas belts round their waists. They brought in a great
deal of fish this evening on their backs, which they threw down in the
streets. Soon after the Peace an English gentleman brought over twelve
of these Dieppe fish-women to Brighton to see England; they galloped
up and down the streets like wild things, stopping to drink at every
public-house: he kept them for a day or two, and then sent them back.
The sea looked so smooth and pretty we wished to be on it. We saw the
Irish come in. We walked out again in the afternoon beside the chalk
cliffs. There are a number of caves in them; one large one with doors
at the entrance was full of barrels, etc., and in another was a very
deep well. At each side of the pier there is a very large crucifix.
Some men were employed driving in posts, and others in filling holes up
with mud. There were more people to-day at the table d'hôte; amongst
whom was a Frenchman who had a very rough voice; he had just returned
from England from seeing the Coronation. He scraped out the inside of
his roll, and eat a great many French beans and oil. In the evening
we saw a child's funeral passing the window: the coffin was covered
with a white cloth with flowers painted on it. We all got ready to go
down to the ship. Papa had taken the ship for ourselves, as it was so
disagreeable when we came to Calais with so many people. A lady begged
that Miss Reed (her niece), who was sixteen, might go over with us, as
her father was dead, and her mother wanted her home. She therefore went
in the same ship with us.
[Illustration: DIEPPE WOMAN AND CHILDREN]
[Illustration: DIEPPE MARKET-WOMAN]