From these various attacks, but principally from those of 1417 and 1589,
the fortifications of Falaise have suffered materially; and since the
last no care has been taken to repair them. The injuries sustained at
that period, and the more fatal, though less obvious ones, wrought by
the silent operation of two centuries of neglect, have brought the walls
and towers to their present state of dilapidation.
The people of Falaise are commonly supposed to be Normans I?I+-I" I muI3/4I?I‡I.I1/2
[English. Not in Original: pre-eminently, especially, above all]; and
when a Norman is introduced upon the French stage, he calls himself a
Falesian, just as any Irishman, in an English farce, is presumed to come
from Tipperary. The town in the French royal calendar is stated to
contain about fourteen thousand inhabitants; but we are assured that the
real number does not exceed nine thousand. Its staple trade is the
manufacture of stockings, coarse caps, and lace. The streets are wide;
and the public fountains, which are continually playing, impart a
freshness, which, at the present burning season, is particularly
agreeable.--The town now retains only four churches, two within its
precincts, and two in the suburbs. The revolution has deprived it of
eight others.
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