_Military Mass_ was performed about an hour after, at the church of ST.
REMY, whither I strolled quietly, to witness the devotion of the
congregation previous to the entry of the soldiers; and I will not
dissemble being much struck and gratified by what I saw. There was more
simplicity: a smaller congregation: softer music: a lower-toned organ; less
rush of people; and in very many of the flock the most intense and
unfeigned expression of piety. At the elevation of the host, from the end
of the choir, (near which was suspended a white flag with the portrait of
the present King[28] upon it) a bell was rung from the tower of the church;
the sound, below, was soft and silver-toned--accompanied by rather a quick
movement on the organ, upon the diapason stop; which, united with the
silence and prostration of the congregation, might have commanded the
reverence of the most profane.

There is nothing, my dear friend, more gratifying, in a foreign land, than
the general appearance of earnestness of devotion on a sabbath day;
especially within the HOUSE OF GOD. However, I quickly heard the clangor of
the trumpet, the beat of drums, the measured tramp of human feet, and up
marched two or three troops of the national guard to perform military mass.
I retired precipitately to the Inn, being well pleased to have escaped this
strange and distracting sight: so little in harmony with the rites and
ceremonies of our own church, and in truth so little accordant with the
service which I had just beheld.


[22] [Mons. Licquet says that there were about 17,000 souls in 1824; so
that the above number may be that of the amount of its _present_
population. "Several changes (says my French translator) have taken
place at Dieppe since I saw it: among the rest, there is a magnificent
establishment of BATHS, where a crowd of people, of the first