The hills around Havre are plentifully spotted with
gentlemen's houses, few only of which have been seen in other parts in
the ride. The town itself is strongly fortified; and, having conducted
you hither, I shall leave you for the present, reserving for another
letter any particulars respecting Havre, and the rest of the road to
Rouen.
Footnotes:
[25] _Antiquites de Normandie_, p. 53.
[26] _Dumoulin, Geographie de la France_, II p. 80.
[27] _Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 109.
[28] Heylin notices the familiarity of the approach of the French
servants, in his delineation of a Norman inn. An extract may amuse those
who are not familiar with the works of this quaint yet sensible writer.
"There stood in the chamber three beds, if at the least it be lawful so
to call them; the foundation of them was straw, so infinitely thronged
together, that the wool-packs which our judges sit on in the Parliament,
were melted butter to them; upon this lay a medley of flocks and
feathers sewed up together in a large bag, (for I am confident it was
not a tick) but so ill ordered that the knobs stuck out on each side
like a crab-tree cudgel.
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