DIEPPE, a seaport t. of France, in the department of Seine-Inferieure, at the mouth of the river Armies, on the English channel, lat. 49° 55', long. 1° 5' e. D. is situated between two high ranges of chalk cliffs, is regularly built, with tolerably wide, clean streets running parallel to the sea; and the houses—built for the most part of stone and brick, with high slanting roofs—have a picturesque appearance. It is walled, has a castle occupying a high cliff at the w. end of the town, which it commands, as well as the harbor, which is situated to the n.e., and admits vessels of 500 tons burden. West of the old castle lies the little fishing suburb of Pollet, far from beautiful in appearance, but exceedingly interesting from the fact that the inhabitants differ in lan guage, manners, and costume from the rest of Upper Normandy, and are supposed to be descendants of those Saxons who settled on the French coast during the period of the Merovingian kings. Some interesting historical associations attach to the castle of Dieppe. Here Henry IV.—the people of D. having been the first to acknowledge his right to the throne of France—retired before the forces of the league, previous to the decisive battle of Argues, fought within 4 in. of D.; and here the duchess of Longueville, so noted as a leader of the party of the Fronde, sought refuge for a time from the royal power she had defied. The castle is now occupied as a barrack. The other principal buildings are the churches of St. Jacques and St. Remi, the theater, and a bathing establishment. The town has several squares, and is adorned by nearly 70 fountains, which derive their supply of water from an aqueduct about 3 in. long. D., being one of the principal watering-places of France, has a great accession of visitors during the summer months; and a large number of huts for the accommodation of bathers, bathing-machines being dispensed with, line the shores. The manufactures
are lace, fine linen, and paper; and the carved articles of horn, bone, and ivory have long been famous. There are also ship-building yards, sugar-refineries, rope-walks, and distilleries; and the fisheries—both coast and Newfoundland—are important, almost the whole of the population of the suburb of Pollet being engaged in them. I). is a favorite landing-place of English tourists visiting France. Pop. '76, 19,471. The rise of Havre has greatly injured the trade of Dieppe.
the art of engraving the die or stamp used for striking the impression on coins, etc., and for stamping thin plates of metal into various devices.
The importance of die-sinking has much increased of late on account of the great extension of the process of stamping thin metal. Many kinds of work formerly bent into shape by the hammer and punch, are now struck by a few blows between suit able dies. As examples of these, we may mention the ornamental work of gas-fittings, window-curtain cornices, common jewelry, ornamental trays, dishes, boxes, etc. For such purposes, a pair of dies is required, one in relief, the other in intaglio, and the metal is pressed between them. only are ornamental articles stamped in this manner, but useful articles, composed of many parts, are made entirely by cutters and dies, each part being cut and stamped by a pair of dies, and then the parts united by another pair, the junction being effected by overlaps, which the uniting dies press into their places. See BUTTONS. The astonishing cheapness of many of the Birmingham products is mainly due to the use of dies for doing by a single blow the work that formerly required long and tedious manipulation. For further information on this, see