with
corn-fields. The peasantry, as we passed them, seemed clean, well-fed,
and happy; we saw several groups of them enjoying themselves in the
evening dance. Our carriage was overtaken by them more than once; they
presented flowers and fruits to our ladies, and refused any return. Some
of the younger women, though sun-burnt, were handsome; and many of them,
from their fanciful dresses, resembled the cottagers as exhibited on the
stage. The men, on the other hand, were a most ugly race of beings,
diminutive in size, and with the features of an old baboon. Mr. Younge,
indeed, in some degree accounted for this, by the information that the
best men had been taken for the armies.

Having taken our tea, and seen the necessary preparation for our beds,
our ladies changed their dresses, and, attended by the Cure, sallied
forth to the evening promenade still customary in all the French towns.
Mr. Younge and myself availed ourselves of this opportunity to visit the
curiosities of the town.

I have frequently had occasion to remark, that the old French towns have
a very prominent distinction. The inland towns of England, be their
antiquity what it may, retain but little of their ancient form; from the
necessary effects of a brisk trade, the several houses have so often
changed owners, and the owners have usually been so substantial in
their circumstances, that there is scarcely a house, perhaps, but what
in twenty years has been rebuilt from its fundamental stone. It is not
the same with the houses in the old towns of France. A French
tradesman's house is like his stocking--he never thinks that he wants a
new one, as long as he can in any way darn his old one; he never thinks
of building a new wall, as long as he can patch his old one; he repairs
his house piece-meal as it falls down: the repairs, therefore, are
always made so as to match the breach. In this manner the original form
of the house is preserved for some centuries, and, as philosophers say
of the human body, retains its identity, though every atom of it may
have been changed.

It is thus with Chartres, one of the most ancient towns in France, which
in every house bears evident proofs of its antiquity, the streets being
in straight lines, and the houses dark, large, but full of small rooms.
The town, as I have before said, is divided into two parts, by the river
Eure, and thence, according to the French historians, was called
_Autricum_ by the Romans. It is surrou