MEN AND THINGS IN AMERICA,

&c. &c.

LETTER I.

PRELIMINARY.

You know, my dear friend, that a tedious convalescence, which followed upon a fit of illness as sudden as severe, was the principal cause of my leaving England for the Continent, more than ten years ago. At that time there was small encouragement to remain in London, for any prospects that our business offered, which had not even at that time recovered from the effects of the panic of 1825. After a while, my health continuing to improve, France became, as it were, a second country to me, and I thought it likely I might pass my days there. Trade generally, and ours in particular, was flourishing; and my prospects of doing something satisfactory for myself in Paris were tolerably fair. Perhaps never, since France was a country, was it in such a prosperous condition. But soon "Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked." The revolution of 1830-the glorious three days-came upon us like a thunderbolt,

B

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EARLY PARTIALITY FOR AMERICA.

That event put an immediate stop to every thing with us for a time; nor was that the worst, had affairs gone on smoothly afterwards within a reasonable space of time; but commerce long seemed likely to fall into a confirmed atrophy. It was then that, being put to my shifts for means of comfortable existence, I accepted a fatiguing and unwholesome situation, which bade fair to send me out of the country in a worse state of health than that with which I entered it. All this I informed you of at the time, when you expressed in your letters to me your surprise at what you called the suddenness of my determination to visit America. There was also another grievance, springing from a source which you did not then know the existence of; and all combined to make it expedient for me to try a change of scene and circumstances. I had heard and read a great deal about the United States, and my intention to go thither was not new. Just as I had reached what is called the age of discretion (most commonly that of indiscretion), it was with me a kind of passion; and I used to look with a longing, lingering eye at every American ship which sailed from a certain sea-port, where I passed a twelvemonth about that time. Circumstances then forbade my going; the desire abated, and ultimately slept. It was now to be realized. Yet I had read and heard enough of America to be much less sanguine on the subject.

Early in June, 1835, I took my place in the dili

THE CITY OF ROUEN.

3.

gence from Paris to Rouen. We passed through St. Germain (famous for its chateau), Mantes, Gaillon (noted for a large prison), Louviers and Elbeuf, where are great manufactories of cloth. I lost sight of part of the country, as I had taken the night stage: the road, especially near the termination, rather hilly; but the sudden burst upon the eye of the river Seine, and the little group of islands it incloses, was very fine the place I mean is about three miles above Rouen. This at once antique and modern city (for it is the great seat of the French cotton manufacture) interested and pleased me exceedingly. I speak not of its factories; I had seen more than enough of them elsewhere; but of its superb antique buildings and monuments, and the beauty of its environs. The Palais de Justice is a rich morsel of the architecture of the middle ages. The church of St. Ouen is the most beautiful Gothic structure I have ever seen. The cathedral, too, is venerableperhaps even imposing-but its architecture is by no means in so pure a taste as that of the former. I ascended one of the cathedral front towers (the centre one, a lofty spire, had lately been struck with lightning, and pulled down); thence I had a most extensive view, reaching all over the city and beyond. It was early in the morning, the weather fine, and I was so pleased, and stayed so long, that the honest tower-keeper was, or pretended to be, alarmed about me; being an Anglais, perhaps he thought I might take a fancy to throw myself from the top. Went to the theatre, and saw a comedy tolerably performed.

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THE CITY OF ROUEN.

The house showy, but tawdry: on the ceiling is painted the apotheosis of the great Corneille, who was a native of the place. They also have him cast in bronze, on their Pont Neuf, which is not unlike the bridge of the same name at Paris; but the former is a fashionable promenade in the evening, which the other is not. I revert to the subject of the theatre merely to mention that I chose a place in the parterre or pit, where there were no seats whatever; those prudent enough to come early are able to lean on the back partition of the orchestra. This I take to have been the first arrangement of things both in French and English early theatres-and hence the term: for Shakspeare talks of "splitting the ears of the groundlings: "—thus evidently indicating the origin of the term.

After a few days' stay, I sailed from Rouen in the steam-boat for Havre: scenery beautiful most of the way. The country (of that part of Normandy at least) may challenge comparison with almost any part of England, and that is saying a good deal. Passed no towns of any great note except Harfleur, which boasts a conspicuous site and spire; however, it is not of these that an Englishman thinks: it is of our glorious Henry V. and Shakspeare. Honfleur is on the further side of the river, lower down, and nearly opposite to Havre. In the steam-boat, found my French companions all happy and sociable; the English (with one exception) the contrary. Perhaps I ought not to have made even that exception, the individual in question being a Scotch gentleman,

THE CITY OF ROUEN.

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who had been travelling all over the Continent for two years he had gone abroad to distract his attention from a domestic calamity. To please him, I went to an English hotel, contrary to my rule in such cases, and got treated accordingly.

As I found that the ship which I had taken my passage in was not to sail for several days, I turned the interval to profit, by sea bathing, and excursions to the environs of Havre. But the intense heat of the season (90° F. in the shade) was much in the way of the latter, and confined me a good deal to the town; which seems all perfectly modern, and, by consequence perhaps, uninteresting. There is a fine pier for promenading. The cliffs that extend seaward below the town are of a rugged aspect; and there is one fine bold promontory, rising to a great height sheer from the sea, and having on its verge a lighthouse and signal station, to give notice to the town of ships being in sight. It is about three miles below the town, but seems much nearer; and when a setting sun brings it out in high relief on the western sky, the effect to the eye of the spectator standing on the pier, is like that of a fine Claude Lorrain painting. Havre is considered by the French no inconsiderable sea-port (it is, I believe, the second they have in amount of trade); and yet I think I have seen shipping to twice the amount of tonnage in one dock (the Prince's) at Liverpool.

Getting tired of Havre, I crossed the estuary of the Seine, and paid a visit to Honfleur, a port of greater account than the former in days gone by, and