In 1845, after a two months stay in Cassel, the future Prime Minister of Britain wrote a letter to his sister in which he was moved to describe the town as...
"an extremely savage place; few of the inhabitants and none of the humbler classes talk French, there is no library, bookseller's shop, nor newspaper of any sort ... It is quite French Flanders, their provisions come from Holland, the Hotel de Ville was built by the Spaniards, the carillons are perpetually sounding, and religion is supreme."
I am pleased to inform everyone that the town now possesses both a library and bookshop, but its still fair to say that the French spoken by some of the locals can remain a challenge to the untrained ear.