Indeed the information to be gained well merits the toil endured in its
acquisition. The only town in England that can give you any notion of
Rouen, is CHESTER; although the similitude holds only in some few
particulars. I must, in the first place then, make especial mention of the
HALLES DE COMMERCE. The _markets_ here are numerous and abundant, and are
of all kinds. Cloth, cotton, lace, linen, fish, fruit, vegetables, meat,
corn, and wine; these for the exterior and interior of the body. Cattle,
wood, iron, earthenware, seeds, and implements of agriculture; these for
the supply of other necessities considered equally important. Each market
has its appropriate site. For picturesque effect, you must visit the _Vieux
Marché_, for vegetables and fish; which is kept in an open space, once
filled by the servants and troops of the old Dukes of Normandy, having the
ancient ducal palace in front. This is the fountain head whence the minor
markets are supplied. Every stall has a large old tattered sort of umbrella
spread above it, to ward off the rain or rays of heat; and, seen from some
points of view, the effect of all this, with the ever-restless motion of
the tongues and feet of the vendors, united to their strange attire, is
exceedingly singular and interesting.

Leaving the old market place, you pass on to the _Marché Neuf_, where
fruits, eggs, and butter are chiefly sold. At this season of the year there
is necessarily little or no fruit, but I could have filled one coat pocket
with eggs for less than half a franc. While on the subject of buying and
selling, let us go to the _Halles_ of _Rouen_; being large public buildings
now exclusively appropriated to the sale of cloths, linen, and the varied
_et-ceteras_ of mercery. These are at once spacious and interesting in a
high degree. They form the divisions of the open spaces, or squares, where
the markets just mentioned are held; and were formerly the appurtenances of
the palaces and chateaux of the old Dukes of Normandy: the _latter_ of