t in
cultivation are housed; for the number of houses by the road-side is
inconsiderable; nor did we, for the first two-thirds of the ride, pass
through a single village, excepting Totes, which lies mid-way between
Dieppe, and Rouen, and is of no great extent. Yet things in France are
materially altered in this respect since 1814, when I remember that, in
going through Calais by the way of the Low Countries to Paris, and
returning by the direct road to Boullogne, the whole journey was made
without seeing a single new house erecting in a space of four hundred
miles. This is now far from being the case; there is every where an
appearance of comparative prosperity, and, were it not for the coins, of
which the copper bear the impress of the republic, and the gold and
silver chiefly that of Napoleon, a stranger would meet with but few
visible marks of the changes experienced in late years by the government
of France. Much has been also done of late towards ornamenting the
chateaux, of which there are several about Totes, though in the opinion
of an Englishman, much also is yet wanting. They are principally the
residences of Rouen merchants.

Upon approaching Malaunay, about nine miles from Rouen, the scene is
entirely changed. The road descends into a valley, inclosed between
steep hills, whose sides are richly and beautifully clothed with wood,
while the houses and church of the village beneath add life and variety
to the plain at the foot. Here the cotton manufactories begin, and, as
we follow the course of the little river Cailly, the population
gradually increases, and continues to become more dense through a series
of manufacturing villages, each larger than the preceding, and all
abounding in noble views of hill, wood, and dale; while the tracts
around are thickly studded with picturesque residences of manufacturers,
and extensive, often picturesque, manufactories. Such indeed was the
country, till we found ourselves at Rouen, shortly before entering which
the Havre road unites to that from Dieppe, and the landscape also
embraces the valley of the Seine, as well as of the Cailly the former
broader by far, and grander, but not more beautiful.

Rouen, from this point of view, is seen to considerable advantage, at
least by those who, like us, make a _detour_ to the north, and enter it
in that direction: the cathedral, St. Ouen, the hospital and church of
La Madeleine, and the river, fill the picture; nor is the impressio