The Mackarel fishery usually commences towards the month of July, along the coast of Picardy; because, being a sort of fish of passage, it gets into the channel in the month of April.  It then moves towards the straits of Dover, as summer approaches.  For this fishery they make use of large decked-vessels, from twenty to fifty tons burthen, manned with from twelve to twenty men.  There are however Dieppe boats employed in this fishery which go as far as the Scilly Islands and Ushant, towards the middle of April.  They carry with them the salt requisite to season the fish, which are afterwards sent to Paris, and to the provinces in the interior of France.  The cod fishery is divided into the fresh and dried fish.  The former continues from the beginning of February to the end of April—­and the vessels employed, which go as far as Newfoundland, are two deckers, and from one hundred to one hundred and fifty tons burthen—­although, in fact, they rarely carry more than fifteen tons for fear of spoiling the fish.  The dried-cod fishery is carried on in vessels of all sizes; but it is essential that they be of a certain depth, because the fish is more cumbersome than weighty.  The vessels however usually set sail about the month of March or April, in order that they may have the advantage of the summer season, to dry the fish.  There are vessels which go to Newfoundland laden with brandy, flour, beans, treacle, linen and woollen cloths, which they dispose of to the inhabitants of the French colonies in exchange for dried cod.  This latter species of commerce may be carried on in the summer months—­as late as July.

In the common markets for retail trade, they are not very nice in the quality or condition of their fish; and enormous conger eels, which would be instantly rejected by the middling, or even lower classes in England, are, at Dieppe, bought with avidity and relished with glee.  A few francs will procure a dish of fish large enough for a dozen people.  The quays are constantly crowded, but there seems to be more of bustle than of business.  The town is certainly picturesque, notwithstanding the houses are very little more than a century old, and the streets are formal and comparatively wide.  Indeed it should seem that the houses were built expressly for Noblemen and Gentlemen, although they are inhabited by tradesmen, mechanics, and artizans, in apparently very indifferent circumstances.  I scarcely saw six private houses which could be called elegant, and not a gentleman’s carriage has been yet noticed in the streets.  But if the Dieppois are not rich, they seem happy, and are in a constant state of occupation.  A woman sells her wares in an open shop, or in an insulated booth, and sits without her bonnet (as indeed do all the tradesmen’s wives), and works or sings as humour sways her.  A man sells gingerbread in an open shed, and in the intervals of his customer’s coming, reads some popular history or romance.