as to allow to be seen on the forehead a small portion of hair, which divides and falls in two or three spiral ringlets on each side of the face.  The remainder of the dress is generally composed of a colored petticoat, probably striped, an apron of a different color, a bodice still differing in tint from the rest, and a shawl, uniting all the various hues of all the other parts of the dress.  Some of the peasants from the country look still more picturesque, when mounted on horseback bringing vegetables:  they keep their situation without saddle or stirrup, and seem perfectly at ease.  But the best figures on horseback are the young men who take out their masters’ horses to give them exercise, and who are frequently seen on the grand cours.  They ride without hat, coat, saddle, or saddle-cloth, and with the shirt sleeves rolled up above the elbow.  Their negligent equipment, added to their short, curling hair, and the ease and elasticity they display in the management of their horses, gives them, on the whole, a great resemblance to the Grecian warriors of the Elgin marbles.  Men, as well as women, are frequently seen without hats in the streets, and continually uncravatted; and when their heads are covered, these coverings are of every shape and hue; from the black beaver, with or without a rim, through all gradations of cap, to the simple white cotton nightcap.  A painter would delight in this display of forms and these sparkling touches of color, especially when contrasted with the grey of the city, and the tender tints of the sky, water, and distance, and the broad coloring of the landscape.”

Footnotes: 

[22] “He was son of Osborne de Bolebec and Aveline his wife, sister to Gunnora, Duchess of Normandy, great-grandmother to the Conqueror, and was one of the principal persons who composed the general survey of the realm, especially for the county of Worcester.  In 1089 he adhered to William Rufus, against his brother Robert Courthose, and forfeited his Norman possessions on the king’s behalf, of whose army there he was a principal commander, and behaved himself very honorably.  Yet, in the time of Henry Ist, he took the part of the said Courthose against that king, but died the year following,”—­Banks’ Extinct Baronage, III. p. 108.

[23] Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni, p. 809.

[24] P. 668.

LETTER V.

JOURNEY TO HAVRE—­PAYS DE CAUX—­ST. VALLERY—­FECAMP—­THE PRECIOUS BLOOD—­THE ABBEY—­TOMBS IN IT—­MONTIVILLIERS—­HARFLEUR.

(Rouen, June, 1818.)