oots, I indulge
a hope that I may be instrumental in spreading the finest varieties of
this pretty flower throughout France.

We lost, of course, many scenes of beauty and interest, in consequence
of the inclemency of the weather. Just as we arrived at a most
beautiful place, a church of elegant architecture rising in the
centre, with gay-looking villas clustered round, the gathering clouds
united over our devoted heads, the rain, descending in a cataract,
beat down the smoke to the very decks, so that we all looked and felt
as if we had been up the chimney, and the whole lovely scene was lost
to us in a moment. The rain continued for about an hour after this,
and then the sky began to clear.

We reached Rouen at about half-past twelve. The approach is very fine,
and the city makes an imposing appearance from the river. We had been
recommended to the Hotel d'Angleterre, which is the best, but were so
strongly tempted to rush into the hotel immediately opposite, that,
trusting to its exterior, we hastened to house ourselves, and found
no reason to repent our choice. We were shown into very handsome
apartments, and found the staircases, lobbies, and ante-chambers as
clean as we could desire. A change of attire and breakfast enabled us
to sally forth to see as much of the town and its neighbourhood as our
time would admit.

The modern portion of Rouen is extremely handsome; the quay being
lined with a series of lofty stone mansions, built in the style which
is now beginning to be adopted in London. The public buildings are
particularly fine, and there are two splendid bridges, one of stone,
and one upon the suspension principle. Very extensive improvements are
going on, and it seems as if, in the course of a very few years,
the worst portions of the town will be replaced by new and elegant
erections. Meantime, imagination can scarcely afford more than a faint
idea of the horrors of the narrow, dirty streets, flanked on either
side by lofty squalid houses, in the very last stage of dilapidation.

The cathedral stands in a small square, or market-place, where the
houses, though somewhat better than their neighbours in the lanes,
have a very miserable appearance; they make a striking picture, but
the reality sadly detracts from the pleasure which the eye would
otherwise take in surveying the fine old church, with which, through
the medium of engravings, it has been long familiar. Many workmen are
at present employed in r