Decorated with silver before, and with lace streaming behind,
it towers on the head of the stiff-necked complacent wearer, whose locks
appear beneath, arrayed with statuary precision. Nor is its antiquity
solely confined to its form and fashion; for, descending from the great
grandmother to the great grand-daughter, it remains as an heir-loom in
the family from generation unto generation. In my former visit to
Normandy, three years ago, we first saw this head-dress at the theatre
at Rouen, and my companion was so struck with it that he made the
sketch, of which I send you a copy. The costume of the females of
somewhat higher rank is very becoming: they wear muslin caps, opening in
front to shew their graceful ringlets, colored gowns, scarlet
handkerchiefs, and black aprons.
[Illustration: Head-Dress of Women of the Pays de Caux]
But nothing connected with the costume or manners of the people at
Dieppe is equally interesting as what refers to the inhabitants of the
suburb called Pollet; and I will therefore conclude my letter, by
extracting from the historian of the place[3] his account of these men,
which, though written many years ago, is true in the main even in our
days, and it is to be hoped will, in its most important respects,
continue so for a length of time to come.
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