Within the piers, the harbor widens into a stone basin, capable of
holding two hundred vessels, and full of water at the flow of the tide;
but at the ebb exhibiting little more than a sheet of mud, with a small
stream meandering through it. Round the harbor is built the town, which
contains above twenty thousand inhabitants, and is singularly
picturesque, as well from its situation, backed as it is by the steep
cliff to the east, which, instead of terminating here abruptly, takes an
inland direction, as from the diversity in the forms and materials of
the houses of the quay, some of which are of stone, others of grey
flint, more of plaster with their timbers uncovered and painted of
different colors, but most of brick, not uncommonly ornamented, with
roofs as steep as those of the Thuilleries, and full of projecting
lucarnes. This remark, however, applies only to the quay: in its
streets, Dieppe is conspicuous among French towns for the uniformity of
its buildings. After the bombardment in 1694, when the English, foiled
near Brest, wreaked their vengeance upon Dieppe, and reduced the whole
to ashes, the town was rebuilt on a regular plan, agreeably to a royal
ordinance.
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