]
[Footnote 53: See _Concilia Normannica_, II. pp. 56, 117, 403, 491, 508,
&c]
LETTER XX.
MOULINEAUX--CASTLE OF ROBERT THE DEVIL--BOURG-THEROUDE--ABBEY OF
BEC--BRIONNE.
(_Brionne, July_, 1818.)
Having accomplished the objects which we had proposed to ourselves in
Rouen and its vicinity, we set out this morning upon our excursion to
the western parts of the province. Our first stage, to Moulineaux, was
by the same road by which we returned a few days ago from Bourg-Achard.
It is a delightful ride, through the valley of the Seine, here of great
width, stretching to our left in an uninterrupted course of flat open
country, but, on our right hand, bordered at no great distance by the
ridge of steep chalky cliffs which line the bank of the river. The road
appears to have been a work of considerable labor: it is every where
raised, and in some places as high as fifteen feet above the level of
the fields on either side.--Agriculture in this district is conducted,
as about Paris, upon the plan called by the French _la petite culture_:
the fields are all divided into narrow strips; so that a piece of not
more than two or three acres, frequently produces eight or ten different
crops, some of grain, others of culinary vegetables, at the same time
that many of these portions are planted with apple and cherry trees.
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