LETTER IX.

DEPARTURE FROM ROUEN. ST. GEORGE DE BOSCHERVILLE. DUCLAIR. MARIVAUX. THE
ABBEY OF JUMIEGES. ARRIVAL AT CAUDEBEC.

_May_, 1818.


MY DEAR FRIEND.


In spite of all its grotesque beauties and antiquarian attractions, the
CITY OF ROUEN must be quitted--and I am about to pursue my route more in
the character of an independent traveller. No more _Diligence_, or
_Conducteur_. I have hired a decent cabriolet, a decent pair of horses, and
a yet more promising postilion: and have already made a delightfully rural
migration. Adieu therefore to dark avenues, gloomy courts, overhanging
roofs, narrow streets, cracking whips, the never-ceasing noise of carts and
carriages, and never-ending movements of countless masses of
population:--Adieu!--and in their stead, welcome be the winding road, the
fertile meadow, the thickly-planted orchard, and the broad and sweeping
Seine!

Accordingly, on the 4th of this month, between the hours of ten and eleven,
A.M. the rattling of horses' hoofs, and the echoes of a postilion's whip,
were heard within the court-yard of the _Hôtel Vatel_. Monsieur, Madame,
Jacques--and the whole fraternity of domestics, were on the alert--"pour
faire les adieux à Messieurs les Anglois." This Jacques deserves somewhat