pon a raised
promenade; while the blossoms of the pear and apple trees, within a hundred
walled gardens, perfumed the air with a delicious fragrance. As we
continued our route along the _Boulevard Beauvoisine_, we gained one of the
most interesting and commanding views imaginable of the city of Rouen--just
at that moment lighted up by the golden rays of a glorious sun-set--which
gave a breadth and a mellower tone to the shadows upon the Cathedral and
the Abbey of St. Ouen. The situation of Rouen renders it necessarily
picturesque, view it from what spot you will.

The population of Rouen is supposed to be full one hundred thousand souls.
In truth, there is no end to the succession of human beings. They swarm
like bees, and like bees are busy in bringing home the produce of their
industry. You have all the bustle and agitation of Cheapside and Cornhill;
only that the ever-moving scene is carried on within limits one-half as
broad. Conceive Bucklersbury, Cannon-street, and Thames-street,--and yet
you cannot conceive the narrow streets of Rouen: filled with the flaunting
cauchoise, and echoing to the eternal tramp of the sabot. There they are;
men, women, and children--all abroad in the very centre of the streets:
alternately encountering the splashing of the gutter, and the jostling of
their townsmen--while the swift cabriolet, or the slow-paced cart, or the
thundering _Diligence_, severs them, and scatters them abroad, only that
they may seem to be yet more condensely united. For myself, it is with
difficulty I believe that I am not living in the times of our Henry VIII.
and of their Francis I.; and am half disposed to inquire after the
residence of _Guillaume Tailleur_ the printer--the associate, or foreign
agent of your favourite _Pynson_.[35]

[34] [Mons. Licquet here observes, "This is the first time I have heard it
said that our Postilions put on rouge." What he adds, shall be given
in his own pithy expression.--"Ou la coquetterie va-t-elle se nicher?"
What, however is above stated, was stated from a _conviction_ of
its being TRUE]

[35] [The third English Printer.] See the _Bibliographical Decameron_,
vol. ii. p. 137, 8.

LETTER V.

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE. CATHEDRAL. MONUMENTS. RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES.
THE ABBEY OF ST. OUEN. THE CHURCHES OF ST. MACLOU, ST. VINCENT, ST. VIVIEN,
ST. GERVAIS, AND ST. PAUL.

I have now made myself pretty well acquainted with the geography of Rouen.