town? What narrow streets, what overhanging houses, what bizarre,
capricious ornaments! What a mixture of modern with ancient art! What
fragments, or rather ruins, of old delicately-built Gothic churches! What
signs of former and of modern devastation! What fountains, gutters, groups
of never-ceasing men, women, and children, all gay, all occupied, and all
apparently happy! The _Rue de la Grosse Horloge_ (so called from a huge,
clumsy, antiquated clock which goes across it) struck me as being not among
the least singular streets of Rouen. In five minutes I was within the
court-yard of the _Hôtel Vatel_, the favourite residence of the English.

It was evening when I arrived, in company with three Englishmen. We were
soon saluted by the _laquais de place_--the leech-like hangers-on of every
hotel--who begged to know if we would walk upon the Boulevards. We
consented; turned to the right; and, gradually rising, gained a
considerable eminence. Again we turned to the right, walking upon 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