the cocked hat, are worn in imitation of the
higher orders of older time. It is indeed a sight of the most amusing
kind to the English eye, to behold a French peasant at his work, in
velvet coat and breeches, powdered hair, and a cocked hat. But we do not
mean to give this as the usual dress of the peasants, although we have
frequently met with it. Their dress is very often as plain, neat, and
sufficient, as their houses are the reverse.

In Picardy, the luxuriant fruit-trees which surround the cottages and
houses, give an appearance of comfort, which is not borne out by the
actual state of the houses on a nearer inspection. Near Laon, and
towards the frontiers of French Flanders, the condition of the peasantry
appeared exceedingly comfortable. Their dress was very neat, and their
houses much more substantial, and, in some parts, ornament was added to
strength. In this district, the people had the advantage of being
employed in the linen manufacture in their own houses, besides their
ordinary agricultural occupations; and their condition reminded us of
the effects of this intermixture of occupations presented by a view of
Clydesdale in Scotland, or of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Towards Fontainbleau, and to the east of Paris, on the road of Soissons,
the peasantry inhabit the old villages, or rather little towns, and no
cottages are to be seen on the lands. No gardens are attached to the
houses in these towns. The houses have there an appearance of age, want
of repair, and a complete stagnation of commerce. And even the peasantry
there seemed considerably reduced, but they were always well dressed,
and by no means answered Arthur Young's description. Still their houses
denoted great want of comfort; very little furniture was to be seen, and
that either of the very coarsest kind, or of the gaudy and gilded
description, which shewed whence it came. The intermixture is hideous.
In the parts of the country above named; the food often consisted of
bread and pork, and was better than what we found in the south. But
even here, the small number of pigs, the poor flocks of sheep, and,
indeed, the absence of any species of pasture for cattle, demonstrated
that there was not a general or extensive consumption of animal food or
the produce of the dairy.

The little demand for butcher meat, or the produce of pasture, is
probably, as Arthur Young has hinted, one great cause of the continuance
of the fallow system of husbandry in