The murder of Joan of Arc formed
the sole blot on the escutcheon of John Duke of Bedford, and the
faults and vices of his companions in arms were the offspring of the
times in which they lived.
We were surprised by the excellence of the shops, even in the most
dilapidated parts of the city of Rouen, the windows in every direction
exhibiting a gay assemblage of goods of all descriptions, while the
confectioners were little, if at all, inferior to those of Paris.
One small square in particular, in which a market was held, was very
striking, from the contrast between the valuable products sold, and
the houses which contained them. Seven or eight stories in height,
weather-stained, and dilapidated, the lower floors exhibited handsome
porcelain and other costly articles, which gave an impression of
wealth in the owners, that astonished those amongst our party who were
strangers to the country. Our hearts absolutely sunk within us as
we thought of the wretchedness of the interiors, the misery of being
obliged to inhabit any one of the numerous suites of apartments rising
tier above tier, and from which it would be absolutely impossible to
banish vermin of every description.
The French appear certainly to be beginning to study home comforts,
all the modern houses being built upon very commodious plans; still
the middling classes, in the towns at least, are miserably lodged,
in comparison with the same grades in England, families of apparently
great respectability inhabiting places so desolate as to strike one
with horror.
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