aylight when
we went to bed, and the incessant tramping, ringing of bells, &c., kept
us for the most part awake and called us up at a very early hour, to
fidget uselessly for the recovery of our baggage, and lose the early
train at last.

The country stretching north-westward from Paris to Dieppe (125 miles)
is less thoroughly cultivated than any other I have seen in Europe out
of Italy. I saw more weedy and thin Rye and ragged Wheat than I had
noted elsewhere. Grass is the chief staple, after leaving the
garden-covered vicinity of Paris, though Wheat, Rye and Oats are
extensively cultivated. The Root crops promise poorly. Indian Corn is
hardly seen, though the Vine is considerably grown. This region is
generally well wooded, but in a straggling, accidental way, which has
the effect neither of Lombard nicety of plantation, nor of the natural
luxuriance of genuine forests. Fruit is not abundant. Irrigation is
considerably practiced. The dwellings of the majority have an
antiquated, ruinous, tumble-down aspect, such as I have observed nowhere
else this side of Lower Italy. On the whole, I doubt whether this
portion of France has improved much within the last fifty years.

Rouen, the capital of ancient Normandy, is the fifth city of France,
only Paris, Lyons, Marseilles and Bordeaux having more inhabitants. Here
the Railroad for Havre diverges from that to Dieppe, which we adhered
to. Rouen is interesting for its antiquities, including several
venerable and richly adorned Churches which I had no time to visit.
Dieppe, on the Channel, has a small harbor, completely landlocked, and
17,000 inhabitants. It is considerably resorted to for sea-bathing, but
seems to have very little trade. I judge that the Railroads now being
extended through France, are likely to arrest the growth or hasten the
decline of most of the smaller cities and towns by facilitating and
cheapening access to the capital, where nearly every Frenchman would
live if he could, and where the genius of people and government (no
matter under what constitution) conspires to concentrate all the
intellectual and artistic life of the Nation.

The Railroad from New-Haven to London passes through no considerable
town, though not far from Brighton and Tunbridge. The country is
undulating and beautiful, mainly devoted to Grass, Wheat and Wood, and
in the very highest condition. It is now toward the end of Haying, and
the Wheat is just beginning to ripen, though that