Granville and St. Malo, have risen, as they have, indeed, all over
France. The railway from Granville to Paris will only make matters
worse, and the resident will soon see the butter, eggs, and fowls, which
used to throng the market of Avranches, packed away in baskets for Paris
and London. The salmon and trout in the rivers, are already netted and
sold by the pound; and the larks sing no longer in the sky. Thus, like
Dinan, Tours and Pau, Avranches feels the weight of centralisation and
the effects of rapid communication with the capital; and will in a few
years be anything but a cheap place of residence.

However, from information gathered only yesterday, we learn that 'house
rent bears favourable comparison with many English provincial towns;
that servants' wages are not high, and that provisions are comparatively
cheap;' also that the climate is 'very cold sometimes in winter, but
more inclined to be damp; and that there is no good inn.'

Again,--'if any quiet family demands fine air, a lovely position, cheap
house-rent and servants, easy and cheerful society, regular church
services, and, above all, first-class education for boys, and good
governesses and masters for girls, it cannot do better than settle down
here.'

And again (from another point of view) that, 'after a year's residence
in Normandy, I can see but little economy in it compared with England,
and believe that sensible people would find far greater comfort, and but
little more expense, if resident in Wales, Ireland, or some of the
distant parts of our own country; if they would but make up their minds
to live with as few servants, and to see as little society as is the
custom abroad.'