they dispose of to the inhabitants of the French colonies in exchange for
dried cod. This latter species of commerce may be carried on in the summer
months--as late as July.

In the common markets for retail trade, they are not very nice in the
quality or condition of their fish; and enormous conger eels, which would
be instantly rejected by the middling, or even lower classes in England,
are, at Dieppe, bought with avidity and relished with glee. A few francs
will procure a dish of fish large enough for a dozen people. The quays are
constantly crowded, but there seems to be more of bustle than of business.
The town is certainly picturesque, notwithstanding the houses are very
little more than a century old, and the streets are formal and
comparatively wide. Indeed it should seem that the houses were built
expressly for Noblemen and Gentlemen, although they are inhabited by
tradesmen, mechanics, and artizans, in apparently very indifferent
circumstances. I scarcely saw six private houses which could be called
elegant, and not a gentleman's carriage has been yet noticed in the
streets. But if the _Dieppois_ are not rich, they seem happy, and are in a
constant state of occupation. A woman sells her wares in an open shop, or
in an insulated booth, and sits without her bonnet (as indeed do all the
tradesmen's wives), and works or sings as humour sways her. A man sells
gingerbread in an open shed, and in the intervals of his customer's coming,
reads some popular history or romance. Most of the upper windows are wholly
destitute of glass; but are smothered with clothes, rags, and wall flowers.
The fragrance emitted from these flowers affords no unpleasing antidote to
odors of a very different description; and here we begin to have a too
convincing proof of the general character of the country in regard to the
want of cleanliness. A little good sense, or rather a better-regulated
police, would speedily get rid of such nuisances. The want of public sewers
is another great and grievous cause of smells of every description. At