Even the Custom house
Officers apologised for keeping us waiting for the form of searching;
and tho' the Underlings condescended to take a Franc or two, the Officer
himself, when I offered money, turned away his head and hand and cried,
"Ba, Ba, Non, Non," with such apparent sincerity that I felt as if I had
insulted him by offering it....

The whole process of getting our passports signed, &c., being over, we
went to an Hotel. "Ici, garcon, vite mettez Messieurs les Anglois a
l'onzieme," cried a landlady--and such a landlady! and up we scampered
to the 5th storey (there are more still above us) and to this said, "No
onzieme." ...

We lost no time in the evening in looking about us; the town is situated
about two miles up the Seine on a sort of Peninsula surrounded with very
regular and strong fortifications. Its docks are incomparable, and
Bonaparte would have added still more to their magnificence, but now all
is at a stand--the grass is quietly filling up spaces hitherto taken up
by soldiers, Workmen, shot and guns; the numberless merchant vessels in
a state of decay proved sufficiently the entire destruction of all
trade; but what gave me particular satisfaction was the sight of a
flotilla of Praams, luggers, intended for the invasion of England, all
reposing in a happy progress to speedy putrefaction and decay. About a
mile from the town on the hill is a beautiful village called St. Michel,
where the Havre citizens have country houses. The town itself is as
singular as heart can wish--indeed, I am firmly convinced that the
difference between the towns of the Earth and Moon is not greater than
that between those of England and France. I scarcely know how to
describe it to you. Conceive to yourself a long street of immensely tall
houses from 5 to 8 Stories, _huddled_, for huddling is the only word
which can convey my meaning, and in truth their extraordinary height and
narrow breadth seem rather the effect of compression than design....
These houses are inhabited by various families of various occupations
and tastes, so that each Storey has its own peculiar character--here you
see a smart Balcony with windows to the ground, garnished above and
below with the insignia of washing woman or taylor. They are built of
all materials, though I think chiefly of wood (like our old Cheshire
houses) and stucco; and, thanks to time and the filth and poverty of the
people, their exterior assumes a general tint of pleasing dirty